A Red Star Appears in the Blackened Sky
by Crysta Blade
Summary: Someone is getting rid of the Hollows before Ichigo even has a chance to see them. What new force is this that has come to Karakura Town? Is this 'Starless" a new ally...or an enemy? READ AND FIND OUT!
1. 見当違いのクライ (The Misguided Cry)

There was only a handful of people who looked up when the alarm went off, "Hollow! Hollow! Hollow!" Ichigo Kurosaki glanced down at the wooden badge on his desk with a scowl. The eyes of the skull, carved into the badge which no one in Soul Society seemed to take seriously, flashed a bright red as it chirped its warning.

"Ichigo!" Rukia Kuchiki glared next to him. Ichigo nodded, "I know!" He quickly stood and dashed out of the classroom, making a hasty excuse to the teacher as he went. Rukia stood too and went to follow him, "Kuchiki-san?" Orihime Inoue had half stood at her desk, asking her question with her eyes which looked worried, "It's alright, Inoue," Rukia said with a smile, "We'll be fine." Orihime nodded and sat back down, but she still looked worried as she watched Rukia disappear. She turned to look out the window, just in time to see Ichigo, dressed in a black kimono, fly through the air towards town. The rest of the class, unable to see Ichigo in his Soul Reaper form, exchanged glances but didn't comment. By now, they were used to the weird actings of Kurosaki's gang of odd friends.

He hadn't gotten very far when the alarm stopped. He paused in his confusion, causing Rukia to slam into his back, "Ouch!" Rukia shouted, "Warn me before you do that!"

"The alarm stopped." Ichigo said, gazing down at the badge in his hand. Rukia peered around his shoulder at it, "That's odd," she muttered and took from her pocket her cell phone, flipping it open and pressing buttons at an alarming rate, "I can't find it," she said after a while, "It's gone!" Ichigo shouldered Zangetsu with a sigh, "That's the third one this week!" He growled. He shook the badge, "Is this thing busted?"

"Of course it's not!" Rukia huffed, "Do you really think Captain Ukitake would give you something that's broken?"

"Then how come it keeps going off when there's no Hollow?!"

"There has to be a reason," Rukia said, crossing her arms to think, "Perhaps Hollows are appearing only to be dealt with before we can get to them? You should ask Ishida. I didn't see him in class today. Maybe he took care of it?" Ichigo sighed but agreed, "Let's head back. There's nothing to do here."

* * *

"ICH-I-GOOO!" Keigo Asano rushed gleefully at Ichigo the next morning, his arms extending in joy to embrace-BAM! Keigo, as usual, ran straight into Ichigo's lariat, "Yo, Keigo." Ichigo said in a bored voice, "You're as energetic as usual. Hey, Mizuiro." Mizuiro Kojima, who had held back in amusement to watch Keigo embarrass himself once again, smiled in greeting, "Good morning, Ichi-"

"ICHIGO!' Keigo, having recovered from the lariat, leapt to his feet and waved his arms excitedly, "Have you heard? We're getting a new classmate today! A transfer student!"

"Is that so?" Ichigo stifled a yawn, "And why should that be exciting?"

"Because-" Keigo waged his finger in Ichigo's face, "My sources tell me the new student is a hot babe!" Mizuiro rolled his eyes, "What sources? I told you that!"

"Do you know her, Mizuiro?" Ichigo asked. Mizuiro shook his head, "Not really. I just happened to run into her yesterday at the market. After talking a little she mentioned that she was transferring to our school today and, as Keigo elegantly put it, she is very attractive."

"Hm." Ichigo said thoughtfully, "Is that so? It's about time we got some beautiful transfer stu-" his sentence was cut short by a schoolbag colliding with his head. Ichigo doubled over in pain to reveal a very irritated looking Rukia standing behind him, "Oh! Excuse me, Kurosaki-kun!" She said in a faked goody-goody voice, "My hand simply slipped!"

"Rukia!" Ichigo growled in pain, "I should take you to the infirmary right away!" Ichigo tried to protest, but Rukia dragged him away from a very bewildered Mizuiro and Keigo.

"What was that about?!" Ichigo shouted once he and Rukia were alone on the rooftop, "Don't you have any other method to get my attention?!"

"You'll live," Rukia retorted shortly, "We have another problem."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"The Hollows. I spoke to Ishida and he said he was in the teacher's lounge helping out. He didn't kill the Hollow from yesterday." Ichigo blinked, "So…that badge really is busted!" Rukia shook her head, "My cell went off as well before it lost the signal. If it was a simple matter of the badge not working, there's no reason why the same would happen to my locator."

"Did you charge the batteries?"

"Of course I charged them!" Rukia snapped, "What do you take me for?"

"Ok, ok!' Ichigo said and ran his hand through his bright orange hair, "So if the badge and locator aren't broken, then how come we haven't seen any of these Hollows? Who's taking care of them before we are?"

"Or what." Rukia muttered.

* * *

"Class!" Miss Ochi clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. As usual she hadn't been put off by Rukia and Ichigo's sudden disappearance from the classroom, and acted as if she hadn't even noticed that they were gone when they returned, only told them to take their seats, "I'm sure you all have heard the rumors, and I'm glad to say they're true. We have a new student joining us today! Reiko? You can come in now." The classroom door slid open and the class went silent. A girl walked in, but not just any girl. Mizuiro had said she was attractive, but Keigo's description suited her better. She was hot.

She had a slim waist and long legs that looked amazing in her school uniform. In the chest, she was smaller than the busty Orihime, but she had nothing to complain about. Her eyes were a sparkling grey and she had a bright and kind smile that would make any boy melt in his shoes, but the thing that made Ichigo stare wasn't her eyes, her smile, or even her chest. It was her hair. Her hair was cropped short in the back with her bangs hanging long, touching her collarbone, and it was bright red.

"Everyone," Miss Ochi said, bringing them back to attention, although some of the boys still stared with open mouths as the girl made her way to the front of the room, standing next to the teacher, "I'd like to introduce Reiko Sagara. She will be joining our class as of today from...erm..." Miss Ochi looked confused for a moment before turning to Reiko, "I'm sorry, where did you say you were from again?"

"Oh, all over," the girl said with a smile. Ichigo heard Keigo sigh in total rapture as the girl continued, "My family has moved around a lot, but I hope that we'll be staying here for some time." Miss Ochi nodded, "Well you heard her! Let's all make sure Sagara-san feels welcome. Go ahead and take your seat behind Ichigo there. Ichigo, raise your hand."

Ichigo raised his hand and the girl turned to smile at him. He felt something stir within as she looked at him, but he wasn't sure what it was. Reiko slowly walked towards him, with all eyes upon her, and when she was level with him, Ichigo felt something, like a bolt of electricity, shoot through his body. He gave a small gasp and Rukia gave him a questioning look beside him.

"Your hair is interesting," Ichigo turned. Reiko had taken her seat behind him, "Such a nice shade of orange. Is it natural?" Ichigo nodded and the girl smiled even wider, "Have you ever thought of dying it?"

"A lot of people say I should dye it black to keep out of trouble, but-"

"Oh, I didn't mean black," Reiko interrupted him, her grey eyes catching his, "I was thinking more of a red. You would look nice in red."

"I take it red is your favorite color?" Ichigo said, entranced by her eyes.

"I despise it." He blinked. He stared at her, no longer entranced but alarmed. But Reiko smiled sweetly. He must have heard her wrong. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by his badge going off, "Hollow! Hollow!" He looked quickly down at the badge, "Again?" he muttered.

"Is something wrong?" Reiko looked concerned. She, of course, couldn't hear or see the flashing badge, "Just fine, I just, uh, need to go to the bathroom!" he nodded at Rukia and took off out of the classroom, muttering another excuse to Miss Ochi.

"Is he always like that?" Reiko asked Rukia, who smiled, "Oh he just has a small bladder is all. I should go check on him!" Rukia also rushed out of the classroom, with Reiko staring after her.

* * *

"Looks like we actually got one this time!" Ichigo unshouldered Zangetsu. He was standing on the roof of the school building with Rukia, staring at a large Hollow as it approached the school. As usual, it was ugly, with a large white mask that bore horns like a demon. To Ichigo, it slightly resembled a bull, and as he looked he noticed it even had cloven hooves instead of hands and feet.

"We can't let it near the school!" Rukia shouted as she unsheathed her Zanpakutō, "Should I get Chad or Ishida to-"

"Nah, just leave this to me!" Ichigo said, "I've been itching for some action!" He leapt from the rooftop and charged at the Hollow, raising Zangetsu to strike. The Hollow reared its head and roared, the sound echoing throughout the city, "Ichigo! Look out!" Rukia's shout warned him just in time. One of the horns came hurtling down at Ichigo. He raised Zangetsu to block, but the force of the impact sent him flying through the air. He steadied himself just before he crashed into the side of the school, and hovered in the air to compose himself, "That thing's a lot stronger than it looks," he grunted as the Hollow charged towards him, "But not strong enough!" he raised Zangetsu, "Getsuga Tenshō!" Ichigo swung his Zanpakutō. A burst of black and red light erupted from the blade and collided with the Hollow. It sliced right through its mask, splitting it in two. The Hollow screamed, but it was too late. Slowly it vanished.

Ichigo shouldered the Zangetsu with a sigh, "That was anti-climatic, but at least this one wasn't another false alarm." He turned, preparing to fly back to the rooftop, and stopped. The window he hovered in front of lead to his classroom. Inside, Orihime, Chad, and Ishida all smiled at him, glad that he had gotten rid of the Hollow before something horrible had happened. The rest of his classmates, unable to see Ichigo, carried on with their lesson, their eyes all on the teacher. Except one.

Reiko Sagara, whose seat was behind Ichigo's and next to the window, was not looking at Miss Ochi along with the others. She was looking at Ichigo; her grey eyes staring straight into his brown ones.

She could see him, and she had seen what he did.

-To be continued...


	2. 炎を武器に天使 (An Angel Armed with Flames)

"Are you sure she saw you?" Rukia and Ichigo sat at a small round table in Urahara's back room. They had decided to ask Urahara to check Rukia's phone and the Soul Badge to make sure they were working properly, and Ichigo had decided to tell Rukia what had happened after he destroyed the Hollow, "Pretty sure," Ichigo said, "She was looking right at me, Rukia. I'm almost positive she could see me."

"Maybe she didn't see you and was just looking out the window?" Urahara suggested with a wave of his fan. Ichigo frowned.

They had returned to the classroom after taking care of the Hollow. Ichigo, after the surprise of finding Reiko staring straight at him, had expected the new girl to say something, or at least to freak out about seeing someone flying after battling a giant monster, but Reiko had said nothing. In fact, she had acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"I guess that could be true," Ichigo said in answer to Urahara's comment, but he sounded doubtful, "But there's still the problem with my badge-"

"And my locator." Rukia finished. Urahara nodded and gestured to the table where the two items sat after his inspection, "There's nothing wrong with either of them," he said, "At least, nothing that I could find. In my opinion, the alarms suddenly cutting off could be one of two things: either the Hollows are simply leaving as soon as they appear or-"

"Or someone's taking care of them before I can." Ichigo said. Urahara nodded and turned to Rukia, "Could it be that Soul Society has sent another Soul Reaper?"

"I haven't heard of such a thing, but I can't know for sure. I sent word to Soul Society but I haven't gotten a response just yet."

"Hmm," Urahara said, scratching under his hat, "Well then my suggestion is to keep an eye out. The next time the alarm goes off, try to pinpoint where the signal starts and dig for some clues. Anything powerful enough to get rid of a Hollow so quickly might be dangerous if its on the wrong side." Ichigo and Rukia nodded in agreement.

* * *

The sun had begun to set when they finally left Urahara's shop.

Ichigo was lost in thought while he and Rukia walked home. He couldn't help but feel that Reiko really did see him, and that it wasn't a coincidence or his mind playing tricks on him. But then, if she did see him, why hadn't she said anything when he returned to the classroom? She seemed like just a normal girl-

"Ichigo! Are you even listening to me?"

"Not at all-" Rukia smacked him across the head with her schoolbag. Ichigo grunted in pain, crouching down, "Geez! What do you have in there, rocks?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Rukia opened the bag to show him. Inside were five stones about the size of Ichigo's fist. They were clear in color and looked like quartz, "Why the hell do you have rocks in your bag?" Ichigo asked, staring in amazement,

"I bought them from Urahara," Rukia said, fastening the clasp on her bag once more, "They're supposed to upgrade my locator to make the signal stronger. Even after the alarm ends, we should be able to read the signal to see where it originated." Ichigo straightened, still rubbing the spot where Rukia's bag had connected with his head, "Will those things work on my badge?"

"There's no need. I told you it isn't broken. Besides, I don't think these would work on-" The badge began to flash, "Hollow! Hollow!" Rukia's eyes grew wide and she wiped her cell out of her pocket, pressing buttons, "Ichigo!" she said once she had located the signal, "It's not far. The signal's coming from the park!"

"Right!" Ichigo held the badge against his chest. With a POP his Soul Reaper form was separated from his body. Rukia began to riffle through her bag, "You go ahead!" she said as she looked for the Soul Candy in her bag, "I'll catch up after I put a Mod in your body!" Ichigo nodded and took off for the park.

* * *

Ichigo arrived at the park in time to see a crab-like Hollow chasing the soul of a teenage boy. The boy was terrified, the soul link clanging against his chest as he ran as quickly as he could, but the Hollow was drawing nearer, "Hey!" Ichigo called. The boy looked over and in his distraction, tripped. He fell to the ground with a short yell and the Hollow barred down on him, "No!" Ichigo rushed forward, his hand on Zangetsu's hilt, but he knew he was going to be too late.

The Hollow suddenly stopped in its tracks. Ichigo paused. The Hollow was looking at something in the trees to its left. The boy looked up too, and whatever he saw made his eyes grow wide. Suddenly, a flash of red light shot from the spot that both Hollow and spirit looked at, and collided with the Hollow. Ichigo yelled in surprise, raising his arm to shield his eyes. When next he looked, the Hollow was consumed by burning red flames and was screaming in agony before it vanished.

Ichigo stared at the charred spot of grass before running over to the spirit, "Hey, are you okay?" he asked. The boy nodded in a daze, still staring at the spot between the trees, "What the hell was that?" Ichigo asked him. The boy shook his head, "I said, what was that?!" Ichigo grabbed him by the front of his shirt and shook the boy until he looked at him. His eyes were glazed over, "Did you see it?" he whispered.

"See what? What are you talking about?"

"The...the angel," the boy said, "There was an angel standing there, in the trees, she got rid of the monster!" Rukia finally arrived at the park, "Ichigo!" she called, "Is everything alright? Did you manage to get rid of the-" she stopped suddenly, "Ichigo, get down!" Ichigo looked up, confused, to see Rukia standing with her arms raised, palms facing him, "Hadō San-ju-ichi! Shakkahō_ (Way of destruction 31, Shot of Red Fire)_" A ball of red flames erupted from Rukia's palms. Ichigo ducked just in time and the flames soared over his head, 'Watch where you're aiming that thing!" he shouted and then turned when he heard the rustling of leaves. The flames had caught on a nearby tree, and in the flickering light, Ichigo saw a shadow move, "Stop right there!" the shadow moved away, disappearing further into the trees, "Rukia, you take care of him!" Ichigo said, gesturing towards the spirit beside him, before taking off after the shadow.

* * *

The sun had completely set, making it impossible to track anything, especially when he didn't know exactly what it was he was tracking. He could hear noises as whatever it was crashed through the brush ahead of him. All Ichigo could do was let his hearing guide him through the trees. As he ran, he wondered what it could be that he followed. That blast had looked like one of Rukia's Kidō spells, but he hadn't heard an incantation before the Hollow was blasted. And then there was that spirit. He had said and "angel" had done it. Ichigo didn't know any angels, and doubted their existence. But he knew that whoever, or whatever, it was that he followed, they or it was powerful.

Ichigo burst from the trees into a clearing. He stood at the edge of the trees, his hand on Zangestu's hilt, eyes sweeping the area. Slowly he stepped forward until he was in the middle of the clearing, but he couldn't see or hear anything else. He defiantly didn't see any angels. He didn't see anything. He was alone. He dropped his hand from the hilt with a sigh, "What the hell was that?" he wondered aloud. He spun around at the sound of footsteps, ready to fight, and stopped when he saw it was Rukia, "Did you find her?"

"Her?" Ichigo asked, dropping his guard again, "What do you mean, 'her'?" Rukia gestured back the way she had come, "The spirit. Before I performed the Soul Burial, he said he saw someone-"

"Yeah, I know. He said it was an 'angel'." Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Perhaps it was," Rukia said, "From his description, the one who got rid of the Hollow was a woman with long hair. He said she had wings like an angel. He said he couldn't see her face, though. Was the Hollow really destroyed by a ball of flames?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said, "it shot right out of the trees at it and burned it up. If I didn't know any better, I would have said it was a Kidō spell, but I didn't hear an incantation before it happened. Are angels really...I mean, do they really exist?"

"I can't say for sure. I've never seen one, but there are plenty of tales about them to suggest they might be real, and judging from what that spirit said," Rukia crossed her arms in thought, "A woman with long hair and wings...and Kidō without an incantation," she muttered, "Someone really is getting rid of the Hollow before us."

"So what do we do now?"

"There's nothing we can do," Rukia said with a shrug, "Our only option is to upgrade the locater and try to find our 'angel' when the next signal appears. At least we know what to look for now." Ichigo nodded, "Where's my body, by the way?"

"Oh, I couldn't find the Soul Candy so I just stashed your body where it wouldn't get in the way." Rukia waved a hand in dismissal and started to walk back the way she had come, "'Stashed' my body?!" Ichigo said, incredulous, "I really don't like the way you said that...Hey! Rukia! Don't just leave me here! HEY!" Ichigo ran into the trees after her.

Neither of them even noticed anything strange about the tall oak tree they passed by on their way back into the woods. If they had looked up, they would have seen the 'angel' they were looking for. The black wings the spirit had seen had vanished into whisps of smoke when she landed in the branches of the tree. She had lead Ichigo to the clearing to get a good look at him, and had been disappointed when he hadn't sensed her sitting in the branches above his head. She had heard that Soul Reapers were more aware of their surroundings, but no matter. There was plenty of time for him to discover her existence. She brushed her long dark hair out of her eyes and smiled as she watched Ichigo and Rukia walk away.

To be continued...


	3. スターレスの料金 (The Price of Starless)

Ichigo opened his mouth and let loose another giant yawn as he and Rukia climbed the stairs that lead to the school's rooftop, "Will you stop that?" Rukia snapped at him, "Do you have _any_ idea how difficult it is to hear what tactics the warlords used to defeat their enemies over that annoying yawning?!"

"And who's fault is it that I'm yawning in the first place?!" Ichigo snapped back.

**-FLASHBACK-**

_"So Rukia?" Ichigo was lying on his bed, watching as Rukia arranged six large clear crystals in a circle on the bedroom floor, "How exactly are those things gonna help us?"_

_"The crystals contain an immensely condensed reishi. When arranged like this," she placed her cellphone in the middle of the circle and the crystals began to slow a soft, hazy blue color, "They discharge the reishi into whatever is in the center. With long enough exposer, the reishi capacity on the locater should be boosted and we'll be able to track a Hollows whereabouts even after it is taken care off."_

_"I don't really get it," Ichigo said, scratching his head in confusion, "but it kinda sounds like Ishida's Springer..."_

_"It's exactly like Springer! Only instead of using the reishi to destroy, we're trying to channel the energy into a new source."_

_"So how long is this gonna take?"_

_"Urahara said it should take a couple hours. He also assured me that it was sound proof, only Shinigami's will be able to hear the charging alarm."_

_"Alarm? What ala-"_

_His question was answered when a loud shrieking alarm began to blare in time to the crystals pulsing lights, "CALIBRATING! CALIBRATING! CALIBRATING! SOME TIME TO GO YET! CALIBRATING!" Ichigo covered his ears, yelling to be heard, "WHAT THE HELL? YOU CALL THIS 'SOUND PROOF'?!"_

_"STOP YELLING!" Rukia yelled back, "YOUR FAMILY WILL GET SUSPICIOUS IF WE'RE YELLING!"_

_"WHO CARES! ISN'T THERE A WAY TO TURN THAT DAMN THING OFF?"_

_"HE DIDN'T SAY! JUST DEAL WITH IT, IT'LL ONLY LAST A FEW HOURS!"_

_9 hours later the alarm finally ceased with a final blare: "CALIBRATING FINISHED! ALL DONE!" and a diminishing of light. Ichigo sighed in relief and rolled over to try to finally get some sleep; growling in anger when his alarm went off for school, "Rukia!" he jumped out of bed and pounded on the door to the closet, "That damn thing had better have worked! Thanks to that 'sound proof' alarm, I didn't get any sleep. Rukia?! HEY! Are you listening to-" he slammed the door open to find that the closet was empty. On top of a neatly folded futon was a note:_

_Ichigo_

_Gone to spend the night with Inoue. Don't forget to bring my cellphone to school._

_DON'T YOU DARE FORGET IT!_

_Sweet dreams!_

_-R_

_At the bottom of the letter was a crudely drawn animal of sorts that Ichigo could only suspect was a rabbit because of the long "ears". A few moments later, Yuzu poked her head through the door, wondering why her big brother was yelling so angrily so early in the morning as he tore a piece of paper to shreds._

**-END FLASHBACK-**

"So did you bring it?" Rukia asked as Ichigo stifled another yawn. He pulled her cellphone out of his pants pocket and tossed it to her as they reached the landing leading to the rooftop. As Rukia flipped the phone open and started to rapidly press buttons, Ichigo opened the door to the roof and stopped in his tracks, "Oh ho!" Rukia said happily, coming up behind him, "It seems everything went smoothly-" she bumped into Ichigo and looked up at him, irritated, "What now?" he nodded to the opposite side of the roof to the spot where they usually sat for lunch. Normally, he, Rukia, Orihime, Sado, and sometimes even Uryuu, would eat lunch together at the far end of the rooftop, where Ichigo could keep an eye on the town while he ate. Every so often Keigo and Mizuiro would join them, but other then them Ichigo didn't think anyone ventured to the rooftop so he was surprised to see the new girl sitting there as if she always ate her lunch there.

"Sagara-san!" Rukia called in surprise, making her look up. Reiko smiled a greeting, "Hi!"

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked when they had settled themselves down next to her. Reiko held up a red bento box, "I was told that this was a nice place to enjoy a meal so...here I am!" Ichigo and Rukia peered curiously at her lunch and gasped. It was beautiful! Ichigo had never seen rice so white, omelets so yellow and fluffy looking, or sashimi so neatly folded over delicious looking sushi. Next to the omelets were what looked like sausages, but instead of the normal octopi he was used to seeing Yuzu make for her lunches, Reiko's were-

"Are those...rabbits?" Rukia asked, leaning forward in awe with her eyes shinning. Reiko nodded, "I like making my sausages a little different and the rabbit shape allows them to cook to my tastes. Would you like to try one?" she held the bento out to Rukia who plucked a rabbit-sausage out carefully with her fingers and held it before her eyes for inspection, "They're so adorable! Ichigo, look! They even have little whiskers-HEY!"

Before she could react, Ichigo had leaned forward and snatched the sausage from her fingers with his teeth, gobbling it down. He ignored Rukia's angry remarks as he chewed, licking his lips after he had swallowed, "That was delicious!" Reiko smiled, offering the bento to him this time, "You should try my omelet next," she said, her eyes glittering.

Ichigo looked down into her eyes and felt his face begin to turn red. _Mzuiro was right, she's really cute_ he thought as he stared into the swirling grey, and then realized that she was waiting for him to take the offered omelet. Flustered, he grabbed two of them and shoved them into his mouth. In his haste, he swallowed too quickly and started to choke.

"Seriously?" Rukia said, pounding him on the back to dislodge the food from his throat, "You can't even eat properly? Idiot." Reiko laughed. Ichigo watched her laugh and thought again that he should talk to her about what had happened the day before. He was positive that she had been looking right at him after her took down the Hollow, but she hadn't said anything to him about it since.

"Hey, Sagara-"

"Please," she said, smiling once more, "Call me Reiko. I never could get used to using last names here."

"R-Reiko, then," Ichigo said, "About yesterday-"

"IIIIIIIIIIIICHIIIIIIIIIIGOOOOOO!"

The door to the roof flew open again and Keigo pirouetted out, a market bag in his hand. He ran to glomp Ichigo and went soaring over his head when Ichigo ducked at the last second. Keigo crashed into the fence face-first with with a yell, "Yo, Keigo." Ichigo said in his usual bored tone of voice after he straightened.

"Ichigo! Cruel! How cruel you are, Ichigoooo!" Keigo said after dislodging himself. He crawled to sit next to Reiko, who looked slightly perplexed when he threw an arm around her, "Stealing away Miss Sagara on her second day! Hogging her to yourself! Fear not, for I! Keigo! Have come to free you from this delinquent, My Princess!" as he spoke, he inched his face closer and closer to Reiko's, going in for a stolen kiss. At the last moment, a soda can whizzed through the air and hit Keigo square in the face. Reiko, her eyes wide with shock, looked to see where the can had come from and waved happily at the newcomers when she saw who it was, "Tatsuki! Orihime!"

Tatsuki, who had thrown the can (or possibly kicked it), grumbled angrily about "perverted males overrun with testosterone" while she and Orihime approached, "Rei-chan!" Orihime said happily as she plopped down next to Reiko, "What sort of yummies do you have today?" Reiko tilted her bento towards her so she could see and Orihime exclaimed in delight, "So beautiful again! I wish I knew how to make those cute rabbits..."

"I could teach you, if you like?"

"Really?! YAY!"

Ichigo looked between Reiko and Orihime, confused. Reiko had only been at their school for two days, and yet Orihime was acting as if she had known the new girl for years. Reiko caught on to his confusion and explained, "My mother knew Orihime's brother. She used to give him advice on how to handle a growing girl." Ichigo understood. After Orihime's parents died when she was young, her brother had taken over the responsability of raising his little sister. It must have been tough and he no doubt had to have turned to others for advice, "So...you two are childhood friends?" Ichigo asked. Reiko smiled mysteriously, "Something like that." There was that stare again. Her eyes burrowed into Ichigo's soul as if she could read all his secrets there. Speaking of secrets...

"Hey...Reiko?"

"Hm?"

"There's something I need to talk to you about," she didn't look confused. She nodded as if she knew exactly what he was about to say, "Look, about yesterday-"

He was cut off by a large crash coming from town. They all looked up in surprise in time to see a giant cloud of debris drifting from the eastern side of town, near the bridge. At the same time, Rukia's cell phone began to chirp "WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!". Ichigo was slightly annoyed that the signal had the same voice as the charging crystals from the night before, but there was no time for that now.

"Ah! Sorry guys, I just remembered I left something at home!" Ichigo said hastily, standing up.

"'Left something'?" Reiko asked, "What did you forget?"

"Oh...you know!" He was horrible at making up lies on the spot, "Just...this and...that...Can't go to class without _that_, right, Rukia?"

"Oh? OH! Oh yes! _That_! You're hopeless, Ichigo! I had better go with you to make sure you don't forget it again!" Rukia said with a false laugh of understanding as she stood up too. Orihime, knowing what was going on, tried to support him, "Oh, Kurasaki-kun! How could you forget _that_?" she asked, "You better go get it right away!"

"Right!" Ichigo threw her a look of gratitude and then took off running for the stairs, waving behind him, "I hate to eat and run! Thanks for the food, Reiko, it was great!" Rukia waved a goodbye and then followed him down the stairs.

"Those two seem...close." Reiko observed as the hem of Rukia's skirt disappeared. Orihime laughed nervously, "We're all very good friends. Rukia will make sure he doesn't forget again. It's something very important!" Reiko raised an eyebrow at Orihime's stuttering before turned to look back at the slowly vanishing debris cloud. Something moved out of the corner of her eye and she looked down. Ichigo and Rukia were running on the school grounds, heading for the entrance gate. However, instead of turning right to head home, as Reiko had seen him do yesterday as she went about her business, they both ran straight ahead. Towards the sound of the crash.

"Yes," she said, her eyes narrowing slightly, "Very...important."

* * *

"Ichigo! The signal's gone again!" Rukia tugged on his kimono to stop him, "Again?!" Ichigo shoulder Zangetsu with a huff, "If this keeps up, I'm gonna go out of shape from lack of Hollows to fight!"

"Don't worry. Although the signal is gone, the crystals did their job. We can still trace the lingering reishi to where the Hollow was, it's not far from here. If we're lucky, we'll be able to find who's been doing your job for you."

"You said that like I'm being lazy!"

Rukia didn't answer and instead took off again. Ichigo cursed under his breath and followed.

* * *

They ended up at the riverbank near the bridge. The Hollow, if there had really been one, was gone but as Rukia had said, reishi still lingered in the air and they could see a charred spot in the grass as if someone had built a fire and left it to burn unattended, "What do you think could have caused this?" Rukia asked, bending down to touch the blackened grass.

"I could be wrong but...remember what happened last night? Whoever got rid of that Hollow used weird blue flames like kidō. It could be the same person..."

"Very good, Shinigami."

They both looked up at the new voice. A figure...someone...was standing on the rail of the bridge above them, looking down at them. At least...Ichigo _thought _they were looking down at them. The person wore a black cloak which completely covered them from the neck down. The hood was down but they couldn't see the person's face due to the mask they wore. It wasn't a Hollow's mask, but it wasn't a Vizard's mask either. It was completely black, covering their entire face, and white lines (like a tiger's) framed the eye holes and face. Ichigo assumed the person was a woman for two reasons. One, the voice had been very effeminate, and two, this person's hair, which was free and streaming in the slight breeze, was long. The only person he knew with hair that long was Renji, but his was red where this person's was jet black.

"You!" Ichigo put a hand on Zangetsu's hilt, preparing for a fight, "Who are you? And what is that weird blue fire...is it kidō? Are you a Soul Reaper?"

"Please, don't insult me like that," Defiantly a woman judging from the voice, "I've simply been doing your job, since it seems that Shinigami have become even more incompetent over the years."

"Not a Soul Reaper," Rukia muttered, "A Quincy, then?"

The woman threw back her head and laughed, "Quincy?" she barked through her laughter, her voice heartless and cold, "Those witch wannabes? No, not at all."

"Then who and what the hell are you?!" Ichigo snapped.

The woman raised her arms as if she were embracing the air, "I am something...yet nothing. I have all the power in the world...yet am powerless. Death resides within me...yet I am no Reaper and have no way to tame it. A star that burns bright in the sky above your head...yet how do you know if it truly is still alive? Many of those stars have died long ago and yet," sparks erupted in her hands and suddenly she was holding a ball of burning blue flame in each of her palms. Ichigo tensed his body, ready to dodge any blow that came, "And yet," the woman continued, "Their light still reaches us here below. Do you understand?"

"You're not saying anything that makes sense!" Ichigo called back. The woman laughed again; a soft pitting laugh, "You will...in time. For now, you may call me 'Starless'. I have other matters to attend to. I'm sure we will see each other again, very soon, Shinigami. Til' then," she raised her hands and brought her palms together above her head. The two flames clashed and a brilliant blinding blue light burst forth. Ichigo shielded his eyes from the light and when he looked up again, he saw a figure far off in the distance. It was no doubt 'Starless', but she had transformed her flowing black hair into feathered wings.

"Wait!" Ichigo called after her and took a few steps as if he meant to follow her, but the figure soon vanished, wings and all.

"Dammit, she got away!"

"That's not important right now." Rukia said, already turning to walk back the way they had come.

"What do you mean, 'not important'?" Ichigo asked, "Some weirdo chick basically threatened us, called us weaklings! She's got enough power to defeat a Hollow in a single shot, without a Zanpakutō, and you're telling me that's 'not important'?"

"Of course that's all important!" Rukia snapped, "But not for us to worry about right now! What we need to worry about is alerting Soul Society about the information we have gathered." Rukia turned to him, her eyes narrowed and serious, "We have an unknown individual with extraordinary powers lurking around town. Not only do we not know who she is...but her powers..."

"What? You mean that kidō thing?"

"It's not kidō...the scorch marks...the lingering reishi..." Rukia picked up her pace and Ichigo realized after they turned a corner that they were not heading back to school but rather to Urahara's shop, "Her power is almost identical to that of a Hollow's Cero!"

* * *

**Well aren't you the hasty one, showing your face like that.**

"I didn't show my face. I wore a mask."

**Masks can easily be stripped away.**

"Don't start with me, Torusei. I'm not in the mood."

**Scary! And here I thought we could have a nice chat about your day.**

"What's there to chat about? I went where you said to go, found the Hollow, and killed it. End of story."

**And the Shinigami?**

She paused, not sure exactly what to say, and then sighed, "He still has a long way to go. I sense the same kind of power in him...if he hasn't learned to fully control it then people could die."

**Like your dear Ryu?**

"How many times have I told you not to talk about him!"

**Just making a point, my lovely.**

"That's not why I called you out. If you're just going to be a pain, then you can go right back in and-"

**I apologize. So why have you called me?**

"I need a new method of transportation. The wings draw too much attention, and they're giving me split ends."

**I see...I think I know just the right thing. But...it'll cost you.**

"What? Why?! It's not a new request, just a change to an old one!"

**Ah and in that retrospect, an ask for a change is a new request altogether, is it not?**

"I...fine. How much?"

**For such a small change...three hours.**

"Take them and be done with it, then."

**With pleasure.**

He held her in his arms, gazing down at the eyes which, at this point, always showed a little fear. Slowly he bent his head down to hers, and she knew what he was going to say before he even said it; something he always said before sealing the deal and taking his payment:

**This is my favorite part.**

Then his lips were upon hers, and she felt three hours of her life being drained from her very soul.

To be continued...


	4. パイナップルで送信 (Send in the Pineapple)

"That's everything we know, sir," Rukia said, concluding her report to Captain Ukitake of Squad 13. Ukitake, two times his normal size on the projector screen in Urahara's backroom, folded his arms across his chest as he thought out loud, "A mysterious woman with spiritual power similar to a Menos...and you're sure she's not an Arrancar?"

"We can't be positive, but the mask she wore looked handmade. Also, she had no weapon that we could see," Ukitake furrowed his eyebrows, "That's what concerns me," he said, "Someone powerful enough to control a Menos-level blast...we need to make contact with this 'Starless' and find out if she will stand with Soul Society, or perhaps one day prove to be a threat." Ichigo and Rukia shared a look. They had left out of their report the part where Starless had insulted Soul Reapers. They doubted she had much love for Soul Society, either.

"Very well," Ukitake said, drawing their attention again, "I will bring this to the next captain's meeting. I'm sure the others will agree that this is a matter of great importance. We'll most likely send a few people to support you, just in case."

"Sorry, Kisuke," Ukitake said to Urahara, "Do you mind keeping this network running? We'll need a way to stay in touch..."

"Not at all, Jūshirō!" Urahara said with a wave of his fan, "Things were getting a little quiet for my tastes."

"We'll send word as soon as possible," with that, Ukitake's face vanished and the screen went black.

"Things are getting exciting," Urahara said, "I wonder who Starless really is?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Ichigo said as he stood, "We need to get back to school. We'll stop by after to talk about the alarm on those damn crystals," he glared at Urahara, who had told them before their report to Ukitake that, to keep the locater functioning at "full capacity", they would have to charge it every night for at least a week. Urahara laughed merrily from behind his fan, "Such a scary look! But it can't be helped, it's a prototype after-all!"

Ichigo grunted as he ducked his head under the entrance curtains, "I'll be needing that new shipment of Soul Candy, as well," Rukia said with a wave, and they walked away.

"Yes, yes! I'll have it waiting!" Urahara waved his fan in farewell until Rukia and Ichigo disappeared around the corner. The moment they were out of sight, he snapped his fan closed and peeked up from behind the brim of his hat, "And what might I be able to do for you today," he asked, looking at the figure that had been silently hovering above the shop, watching Rukia and Ichigo leave,

"Miss Starless?"

* * *

They made it back to school almost an hour after they had first left. Ichigo slid into his desk with a sigh in the middle of his English language class, not that the teacher paid him or Rukia any attention. In fact, he had acted as though he hadn't noticed they were missing at all, which Ichigo found strange. Mr. Okubo was a stickler for attendance and had made Ichigo run laps for being late on many occasions.

"Did you get what you forgot?" a voice whispered in his ear. He turned his head slightly and caught a glimpse of Reiko's grey eyes. He had to turn away; her stare made him uncomfortable, "Yeah," he muttered, "I got it."

"That's good," she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice, "Seeing how...important it was." He didn't say anything, but he became determined to talk to Reiko after school before he set out for Urahara's. If she had spiritual power, like him and the others, then she might even be able to unmask Starless.

* * *

**This is boring.**

_Then take a nap._

**Is that a joke? It's not very funny.**

_I thought it was pretty funny._

**Hm. You're in an awfully good mood, all of a sudden.**

_Shouldn't I be? If this repellent Kisuke gave me works, we won't have to worry about Hollows for a while._

**I was never worried. With my assistance, why be worried?**

_Well, I was! I'm tired of fighting Hollows everywhere we go. I want to settle down somewhere; make friends. Have a hometown, even if it _is _filled with damn Soul Reapers. You know, like a normal person._

**Again? Didn't you try that already? I'm pretty certain it didn't work out very well last time-**

_Torusei..._she warned.

**I only meant, **he hastily changed the subject, **even if the repellent works, you aren't exactly "normal", my lovely.**

_Thanks for reminding me_, she said, filled with sadness.

**No tears, **he surprised her by sounding soothing and kind, **After all, I'll always be with you.**

She didn't feel reassured by his words. Not anymore.

* * *

"I have to say, that was very impressive, Kurosaki," Uryuu turned to him when class was finally finished for the day, "You could tell that Okubo-sensei was surprised too, by the way he backed off in the end."

"Huh?" Ichigo cocked his head at him, "Whatja mean? What'd I do?"

"You answered every question Okubo-sensei fired at you without the slightest hint of hesitation. I didn't know you had a knack for English."

He didn't. Ichigo wasn't stupid, granted he could be dense at times; he was a very good student. Sure, he didn't get much homework done what with his Substitute Soul Reaper responsibilities, but he retained information well enough to spew out the correct answer on a test, and had thus kept from falling behind enough for them to hold him back. Except in English. For some reason, the language stumped him. It sounded weird, it looked weird, and he never planned on leaving Japan so he didn't see why he would ever need anything but Japanese.

"Okubo didn't ask me any-" he was distracted by the sight of Reiko leaving the classroom,

"Sorry, I'll have to get back to you!" Ichigo waved an apology and took off after her, catching Reiko just as she was making her way down the stairs, "Wait up, Reiko!" She turned in surprise, tucking a fly-away strand of cherry-red hair behind an ear, "Hm?"

"Do you mind? I need to talk to you about something."

"Me?" she pointed to herself (something Yuzu used to do in elementary school, Ichigo noted).

"Yeah," he jerked his head to the window where they could see the bike racks behind the school, "Could we go somewhere a little quieter? I don't really want a bunch of people to overhear."

"Sure," Reiko looked a little perplexed, but nodded anyway, "Let's walk out back, then." He agreed and followed her to the shoe lockers. On the way, they passed by a couple of first years. They stopped their chatter and looked terrified at the sight of Ichigo, scurrying out of his way like frightened mice.

"Tch," he gritted his teeth as he watched them hurry away.

"Pfft..." he turned at the small sound, looking at Reiko. She had her hand covering her mouth while her shoulders shook slightly; her eyes glittering with tears. It took him a moment to realize she was trying hard not to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just," she wiped a tear from her eye with a little giggle, "It's a little funny to see how scared people are of you, when you're actually a pretty pleasant guy. I've even been warned to stay away from you a few times."

"What? Why?"

"Oh, you know," she grinned as she opened her locker and started to change her shoes, "The usual rumors. You're crazy and love to start fights. You're the leader of a notorious street gang. You prey upon beautiful women, like myself, and make them slaves to your desires," she looked up at him as she adjusted her shoe with a tap, "That last one was a joke."

He blinked, not sure if he was expected to laugh or not and opted for changing his shoes as well, "It's my hair," he said; removing his outdoor shoes from his locker and throwing in his school ones, "People judge me because they think I dyed it or something. You'd think I'd be used to it by now,"

"I think it's more than that," Ichigo glanced at her while he tied his laces, "Well," Reiko continued, "You always look so serious," she furrowed her eyebrows and gave an impressive scowl. It was such a different look than her usual smile that it was his turn to laugh.

"I don't look like that!"

"Oh? You sure?" she puffed out her cheeks and made little "puu! puu!" sounds, making him laugh harder. She stopped suddenly, staring at him, "You have a nice smile, Ichigo."

He stopped laughing abruptly, feeling his face turn red, "You should use it more," Reiko said over her shoulder as she headed for the door, "I bet people would stop judging you for your hair, if you did," Ichigo was briefly reminded of his mother and something she had similarly said. He dismissed the memory with a shake of his head before following Reiko to the back of the school where they could talk.

"So," she asked, leaning against a pillar, "What's on your mind?"

"Yesterday," Ichigo wasn't really sure how to ask her, so he was going to go the round-about way, "Erm...yesterday was your first day, right?"

"Yeah...?"

"How...how did it go?" she stared at him, and he didn't blame her. He wanted to kick himself for how lame he sounded, but he continued, "Are you settling in alright? Making friends? Not getting lost or anything?"

"No...I mean, yes...I mean," she sounded really confused, "What's this about?" Her eyes suddenly widened with clarity, "This isn't you confessing to me, is it?" Now she sounded panicked, "You're a really nice guy and all, but I've only just moved here and we don't know each other that well-"

"No! No! Nothing like that!"

"Oh..." she sighed in relief (hurting Ichigo's pride a little) before looking even more confused, "Then what-?"

"Yesterday," he tried again, "Did anything...interesting happen?"

"'Interesting', you say?" She studied him and he forced himself to meet her eyes. The swirling grey pulled him in, surrounded him; trapped him, until with a blink of her eye, he was free,

"Can't say. Nothing I'd call 'interesting'," she shrugged, "Just normal stuff,"

"Although...I did get yelled at for staring out the window on my first day."

"Really?"This is what he had hoped for. Now she would tell him about the weird giant monster she had seen, and maybe even confess that she thought she had "imagined" Ichigo fighting and killing it. But that wasn't what she said at all. Instead he heard:

"The town is so peaceful to look at that I couldn't help stare. I didn't hear the teacher calling on me until she was right next to my desk."

"Oh," he was disappointed at first, and then glad that someone hadn't discovered his secret, especially this girl he barely even knew, "Don't worry about that, I've been yelled at tons of times."

"I don't doubt that," she said with a giggle, "Was there something else you needed to talk to me about?"

"No, that's it. Just wanted to make sure you were settling in alright. Let me know if there's anything I can do: I could show you around and stuff."

"Sure!" she waved as he jogged away. Once he was out of sight, she dropped both her hand and her smile with a sigh. She stretched slowly and thought about how Ichigo had looked while laughing,

"That surprised me," she muttered. She hadn't expected him to look so...cute.

"'Interesting'...huh?" Her eyes were cold when she turned on her heel and started to walk home.

* * *

"Ah! KURASAKI-KUUUUUN!" Orihime waved from the entrance of Urahara's shop, "Urahara-san!" she called inside, "He's here!" Sado raised a hand in silent greeting when Ichigo approached.

"Chad?" Ichigo had to crane his neck to look up at his enormous friend, "What are you two doing here?"

"Rukia told us to come," Sado said simply, "Ishida is inside," they followed Orihime into the shop and then into the backroom where they found Uryuu dressed in full Quincy attire,

"How did you...find time to change into that between school and here?" Ichigo's eyebrow twitched as he tried to, once again, come to terms with just how weird Uryuu's taste in clothing was.

"Naturally, I always keep an outfit on hand," _You mean you actually carry it around with you? _Ichigo thought, but decided not to say anymore on the matter as he sat cross-legged next to Orihime, across from Urahara,

"Any word from Ukitake?"

"The captains meeting ended a little while ago," Tessai said as he placed a cup of tea before Uryuu and Orihime, who smiled in thanks, "As Ukitake-san had mentioned, it had been decided that Soul Society will send you support."

"Who all are they sending?"

"Renji," Rukia said, appearing from the hall leading to the back rooms, "Elder brother chose him specifically for his skill in long-rang combat,"

"Ok, cool. Renji and who else?"

"That's it. Just Renji. Brother thought, and Captain Yamato agreed, that it would be unwise to send a larger force. It could give Starless the impression that we view her as an enemy, when we don't know whether she is on our side or not. We can't risk provoking her and loosing a potentially powerful ally."

"But what if she _is _an enemy?"They all fell quiet. They seemed to have a lot of enemies lately, and they didn't want to think of adding Starless to the list as well, "Do you think...?" Orihime asked, saying what had just popped into Ichigo's mind,

"Could Starless be working with Aizen?"

"It's a possibility, but I doubt it," Urahara said, taking a sip of his tea, "You said that Starless finds Shinigami incompetent, and Quincy laughable," he waved an apology in Uryuu's direction, who took it with a small grunt of disagreement, "So I don't think she would ally herself with the likes of Aizen."

"That's what I'm hoping" Rukia chewed on the nail of her thumb with a look of worry on her face, "She would be a formidable foe, even with Ichigo learning to control his Hollow side,"

"If her powers are really like a Menos," Sado looked a little worried too, throwing Ichigo a glance, "Then Hollow powers won't be enough to stop her, if it comes down to it,"

"Then it's a good thing I'm here!" Renji Abarai, Lieutenant of Squad 6, stood in the doorway. He grinned at them beneath his shock of bright red hair, adjusting the headband that covered most of his facial tattoos; Zabimaru tied to his side.

"Yo, Ichigo! It's been a while! Whose ass are we gonna kick this time?"

-To be continued...


	5. 緑の白熱と赤輝き (Emerald Glow, Red Shine)

"Kurosaki-kun...who's your friend?"

Miss Ochi looked Renji up and down, taking in his long red hair, tattoos, and the Zanpakutō (which she took for a kendo sword) strapped to the belt loop of the school uniform he had borrowed from Ichigo,

"This is Renji," Rukia said hastily as Ichigo floundered for something to say, "He's Ichi-I mean, Kurosaki-kun's cousin. He's shadowing for a couple days,"

"Cousin...eh?" she didn't seem suspicious. Then again, Miss Ochi rarely seemed very interested in the going-ons of her students, "I should have guessed by the hair...well, find a seat somewhere. The desk next to Sagara-chan is empty, so why don't you sit there?" she nodded at Reiko who was staring out the window again, not paying attention to anything going on in the classroom.

"Th-thanks!" Renji stuttered. Rukia elbowed him in the side, hissing "Stop acting so suspicious!"

"I don't see why he has to be my 'cousin', though," Ichigo muttered as they walked down the isle to their seats,

"It's the easiest explanation we can give. Besides, the two of you are so alike, no one will question it,"

"WE ARE NOT!" Ichigo and Renji said, proving her point. Rukia slid into her seat, nodding at the desk behind her for Renji. When Ichigo plopped into his, he jarred Reiko's desk, making her jump, "Oh! Sorry, Reiko," she blinked, looking around at him.

She seemed to be in a daze, not knowing where she was, and her eyes were glazed over. Slowly, Ichigo saw them clear as she seemed to realize where she was. She smiled sheepishly, "Good morning, Ichigo. Rukia," she smiled at her too, and then noticed someone sitting in the desk next to her. She turned to Renji, "Good mor-" she stopped. Ichigo thought that the sight of Renji was probably an unnerving one. What with his hair and tattoos, he could easily be mistaken for a gang member (the sword and headband didn't help, either). Most likely it had been the facial tattoos that had thrown Reiko for a loop.

"Red..." she muttered. Renji raised an eyebrow, "Eh?"

"It's...red," she was staring at his hair as if it was the most horrifying thing she had ever seen,

"Yeah...so? It's the same color as yours," Renji nodded at her own hair, but Reiko didn't seem to hear him. In a flurry, she suddenly stood. Without a word, she picked up her school bag from the hook on her seat, slung it over her shoulder, and strode out of the classroom; sliding the door shut with a slam behind her.

"What was that about?" Renji looked at Rukia, confused. She shrugged, "I'm not sure...that's not like Sagara-san at all..."

But Ichigo suddenly remembered something Reiko had said to him when they first met. _I despise it, _she'd said when he asked about red being her favorite color. He had thought he'd heard her wrong, since she had smiled afterwards as if she'd said nothing out of the ordinary. Now...he wasn't so sure.

* * *

"Torusei!"

In the usual swirling mass of black smog, he appeared before her, bent on one knee like a soldier before his Queen, **You called, my lovely?**

"Things are getting out of hand. Kisuke's warning has come true. They sent another one; I sensed it."

**Oh my. It seems that Soul Society has grown weary of Starless.**

"Soul Society? What do you know of that?"

Torusei smiled, his eyes flashing, **I know many things. After all, I have lived for...oh, many eons now. **

"I need some way of protecting myself..." she muttered, "With Hollows I've kept to long distance attacks, but I don't know if I can maintain that with the ever growing number of Shinigami. Isn't there some kind of shield or something you can give me?"

**A shield..? **he furrowed his eyebrows, **Such a thing could be done but...the price would be high if you want it impenetrable.**

"How high?"

**A day, a day.**

"...What? What do you mean?"

**In order to make a shield that can not be broken by any outside force, I would have to constantly adjust its strength to be stronger than the attack. This kind of adjustment is not only tiring, but very draining. I would require a day each day. That is...I would take from you a day, every day, for the rest of your remaining life.**

Her eyes widened. He would take a day from her each day? By that means, it could become impossible to keep track of her remaining life span, and he already refused to tell her how long she had left.

Torusei had come to her when she was a child, barely 7 years old. When he first explained the prices for his "deals", they had been small-a few seconds here, a few minutes there, an hour or two, tops-was taken from her remaining life span with every deal she made. However...she had quickly realized that some deals cost a lot more than she was willing to pay. A year...five years...and then there was the deal that she had been willing to make, but he refused to give her. The one that would have cost her her entire remaining life span. To top it all off, Torusei had always refused to tell her, after each deal, what her remaining life span was (although she suspected he knew very well what it was) so it had fallen on her to keep track.

Right now, she estimated that she had well over 40 years left. That would vanish quickly if she took this deal.

"Forget it," she snapped, "That's too much to ask for, just for a shield!"

**Suit yourself,** he sounded disappointed, **So what shall we do about the Shinigami?**

"Nothing," she said, "I'll take the repellent tonight. If it works, we'll never have to worry about the new one _or_ the other two for that matter. Starless will retire, and I'll be able to have that normal life I've always wanted,"

**Sounds boring to me,** Torusei said, flicking his hair out of his emerald eyes, **But it's your life, my lovely, so do with it what you will.**

The swirling smog engulfed Torusei and he was absorbed once more. She ran a finger over the stone, feeling how it pulsed like a heart beneath her touch, and wondered if her life really was her own.

* * *

The day went by without a single Hollow. It wasn't rare for such days to happen, but it seemed odd to Ichigo after three days of constant signal alerts.

He walked with Renji along the gravel path leading to the bridge where he and Rukia had last met Starless. Strangely enough, Captain Byakuya (Rukia's elder brother as well as Captain of Renji's squad) had failed to mention to Renji that Starless was a woman, "I figured it was a guy," Renji said, "from how the Captain described Starless' reishi. Someone with a Meno's leveled power sounds like one of Aizen's Arrancar."

"That's what I would usually figure, too," Ichigo shrugged, "But she's not a Arrancar. She looked nothing like them and she didn't have a Zanpakutō, not that I could see, anyway," They had arrived at the scene and Ichigo showed him where the scorch mark was.

Starless' reishi still lingered faintly on the spot. Renji crouched down and brushed his hand over the charred grass, frowning, "It's similar, all right," he said, shaking his head, "but...not. It's hard to explain but, the reishi's spirit peak is just as high as a Menos, but the energy is different. I've never felt anything like this before..."

"Great," Ichigo growled, running a hand irritatedly through his hair, "So we're back to having no clue as to what Starless is. At least 'Menos' was leading somewhere,"

"So what do we do now?"

"There's nothing we _can _do unless a Hollow shows up. That's the only time we've ever come in contact with her."

Renji straightened and looked up at the sky. Normally when a Hollow appeared, a rift between the worlds could be seen opening in the vast nothing of blue. The bigger the Hollow, the bigger the rift and the more difficult it was to handle matters.

"What about Ishida?" Renji asked, "Doesn't he have something that lures Hollows? If we use that we can draw Starless right to us," Ichigo shook his head, "We'd lure the Hollow to us before Starless. Besides, the last time he used one of those things, we got way more Hollow than I care to handle," he sighed, "We're just gonna have to do it the old-fashioned way and wait for one to appear on its own. In the meantime," he glared at Renji, "Where do you plan on staying?"

"Hm? What do you mean 'where'?

"I mean you're not staying with me! I've got enough already with Kon and Rukia!"

"Kon doesn't even take up that much space! Besides-"

"No 'besides'! It's not happening!"

"Fine," Renji scratched at his cheek in thought, "I guess I could bunk with Urahara again..." he didn't really like that thought. Urahara and the others (Ginta, Ururu, and Tessai) always made him feel like a no-good freeloader.

Ichigo nodded in agreement, "Right," he started to walk back up the grassy slope to the gravel path, "Let's get out of here. Yuzu's gonna get mad if I'm late for dinner again."

* * *

**Are you sure this is going to work?**

Torusei stood with his arms crossed in front of her, a look of utter disapproval on his handsome face. She uncorked the small black bottle and stared down at it, starting to feel a little doubtful herself, "It _has _to work," she said, her voice trembling, "I can't do this anymore, Torusei, I just can't. I'm tired of it,"

**Did that Kisuke Urahara explain at all how this...repellent...works?**

He had: _The problem is, your reishi is too immense, _Urahara had told her when she came to him for the repellent, _the Hollows are attracted to it. If I'm correct with my formulations, this repellent will suppress your reishi so that the Hollows can't sense it. Think of it as putting a cork in a container of rotten cheese. With the lid on, no matter how strong the odor, none of it seeps out so no one can smell it._

**You're taking the word of someone who related the power I've given you to a jar of smelly cheese? **Torusei scoffed, sounding highly offended.

"Yes," she said adamantly, "I am. I don't have a choice," she glanced at him, "If this works, you do realize I won't be making anymore deals, right?"

She thought she saw something flash in his brilliantly green eyes. Fear? Anger? But then he smiled at her, coyly, **Even if it does work, which I doubt very much it will, I am certain there will always be more deals in our future together, my lovely.**

She narrowed her eyes, but didn't argue. He was probably right; he usually was, but this was one time she fiercely wanted to prove him wrong, "Make sure to watch," she ordered him, "If Kisuke was right, you should be able to see my reishi waves vanish," Torusei nodded, still looking doubtful.

She raised the bottle closer to her lips, sniffing at the contents and immediately wishing she hadn't. The wafting odor made her gag and she realized at once what Kisuke's metaphor really meant. Whatever was in the bottle smelled exactly like cheese that had been left to rot in the hot sun for weeks, possibly years, but with the cork in the bottle she hadn't been able to smell anything. Torusei, whose senses were much sharper than hers, wrinkled his nose in distaste, but she saw amusement in his eyes, **You could always just pour it out. Might be fun to watch the grass whither.**

She ignored him. With a deep breath, she plugged her nose with her other hand and gulped down the repellent, trying unsuccessfully to not let it touch her tongue as it went down. The taste almost made her vomit-it was even worse than it smelled. After she felt she had some control over her stomach, she looked eagerly at Torusei, "So? Did it work? Is it fading?"

He cocked his head to the side. He had the useful ability of being able to see reishi waves as they emitted from a being. He could see both their colors and power level, and could even recognize a species based off what he saw. Her reishi, which was the same color as his eyes, swirled steadily around her.

**I don't see any change, **he said (and she was annoyed that he sounded smug), **How do you feel?**

"No different, to be honest, although it was so nasty I thought I was gonna puke-"

A jolt of intense pain ripped through her stomach. She doubled over with a small gasp, falling to her knees in the grass. It felt as though someone had jabbed her with a rod that had been heated in fire. Her breathing came out ragged as another jolt shot through her, larger and spreading across her entire body, "What's...happening...to me...?" she moaned. She had never felt so much pain in her life. She looked up at Torusei, opening her mouth to order him to remove the wretched...whatever she had drank...from her body, no matter what cost she had to pay. Before she could form the words, another stab of pain flashed through her. She collapsed in the grass, tears streaming down her face. She was beginning to lose consciousness.

Torusei watched her with wide eyes. The reishi that had swirled lazily around her moments ago now looked like licking flames erupting from her body. It had changed color too; no longer the dazzling emerald green, but a deep, bloody red.

**Lovely, are you al- **He was thrown backward as her reishi exploded with the force of a small bomb. Her spirit energy flowed out in a rush, throwing Torusei off his feet. He righted himself in midair, hovering as he watched her reishi flow out more and more. The repellent hadn't suppressed it at all. If anything, it looked to him as if whatever Kisuke had given her had opened every spiritual gate in her body, allowing even more energy to flow out.

**Well that's bad, **Torusei muttered, but he sounded gleeful. He had never imagined that she would become so powerful.

He was itching to taste some of that energy, that delicious energy that intertwined with her life force each time she made a deal with him. However, because of that damn binding spell that bastard had placed on him years ago, he was unable to get his hands on that energy unless she made a deal with him of her own free will, and from the looks of it, that wasn't going to happen right then.

She had screamed when the reishi peeked. She'd screamed at the sky, her back arched while the reishi poured out of her-a shrill, terrifying scream of pure agony-before she went limp, completely unconscious. Her spirit waves seemed to settle, swirling around her once more in a stable, if not larger, cloud. But it did not turn back to its normal green; it remained the deep red.

**I told you it wouldn't work, **Torusei said as he landed softly in the grass beside her, **And now look what's happened. We'll have even more trouble hiding now. **He looked down at her. He could see the slow rising of her chest from her shallow breathing.

He hadn't worried that she'd died when she went still-if she had, he would have moved on the the next inhertitant-but he was concerned that whatever she had drank had affected her in some other way he wasn't seeing, maybe psychologically or physically (he strongly hoped that she wouldn't become even more surly than she already was). Not that it mattered. As long as she was alive, he would have more chances to taste and drain this new-found energy from her, and with it her remaining life force. All in due time.

He bent down and gently lifted her into his arms, cradling her head against his chest, **Let's get you home, my lovely, before something regretful happens, **he whispered, brushing a kiss across her sweat soaked forehead. He lept into the air, flying without the need of wings like the ones he had once given her, and soared through the air towards their home.

* * *

Ichigo's badge and Rukia's locator went off, "HOLLOW! HOLLOW! HOLLOW!"

They had just finished dinner and had been discussing what plan of action to take next if a Hollow didn't appear anytime soon, but now there was no need. Rukia flipped open the locator and pressed a few buttons, her eyes widening when she saw the large dot indicating a Hollow not too far from them,

"Ichigo," she whispered, "This...this level of reishi...it isn't a normal Hollow this time. It's Menos level or higher!" she looked up at him with fearful eyes. He had once driven a Menos back with Getsuga Tenshō, but even that wouldn't be able to defeat a normal Menos without him relying on his Vizard powers.

"We should get Renji-"

"No. If he's with Urahara like you said, then he'll know by now too. He'll most likely meet us there. We need to go take care of this! NOW!"

"Alright, alright!" He picked up his badge, and then had a second thought, "Kon!"

Kon blinked up at him from the floor where he was reading comics. He hadn't paid much attention to their conversation, not even noticing when the badge and locator had gone off,

"What's u-" Ichigo snatched him up from the floor, "I need you to bodysit!"

"What-? Wait! No! Ichigo! Uggggh!" Kon's words became muffled as Ichigo shoved his entire free hand down Kon's plushed throat. He struggled frantically, gagging while Ichigo's fingers groped for the Mod Soul pill. Finding it, Ichigo plucked it out of the now lifeless stuffed lion, tossed it onto the bed, popped the pill into his own mouth, and swallowed. Immediately, his spirit separated from his body, garbed in his Soul Reaper kimono.

"Damn you!" Kon's voice was angry from Ichigo's body. He clutched at his throat as if he could still feel Ichigo's hand, "I wish you would give me some kinda warning before you shoved your hand down like that!"

"Keep an eye on things here!" Ichigo shouted as her sprang out of his open window, "If things get out of control, I'm counting on you to look after Yuzu and Karin!"

"S-sure!" Kon, taken aback by how serious he sounded, gave a small salute while he watched Rukia follow after Ichigo, having swallowed a Gikongan (_Artificial Soul Pill_) herself, "Same to you, Chappy!"

"Aye, aye-pyon!" Rukia's body, containing the most popular of Soul Candies, gave a much more enthusiastic salute than Kon.

Ichigo and Rukia ran full speed, keeping an eye on the locator as they went, "The signal's staying put and it doesn't look like it's going to fade this time," Rukia looked a little concerned, "Do you think Starless couldn't handle it?"

"Maybe," Ichigo tightened his grip on Zangetsu's hilt, "Or maybe she's just running slow and we'll beat her to it! We'll find out soon enough!"

-To be continued...

* * *

**A MESSAGE FROM CRYSTA**

_I want to take a moment to thank everyone for sticking with me so far! I hope you're enjoying the story (as it is); I promise there is much excitement still to come. I plan to reveal Starless (and Torusei's) faces in full description in the chapters to come, as well as reveal exactly why Reiko despises the color red (it's sure to be interesting!). _

_My question to you, my readers, is who is your favorite character so far? _

_Is it Reiko Sagara, the beautiful and mysterious transfer student?_

_What about Starless, the quick-tongued woman with powers frightfully close to an Arrancar?_

_Or even Torusei, whose favorite time of the day is draining the life force from your body with a kiss?_

_Let me know in a review/comment/message whatever (for you artists out there, you can even send me some fanfic pictures of how you imagine the characters to look like! I love getting stuff like that :D)_

_Stay tuned for more chapters! I intend to take this story to the very end (yep, that's right! I already have an ending planned out...but don't worry. That ending is far off in the future, right now ;) )._

_-Crysta B._


	6. Xスポットをマーク？(X Marks the Spot?)

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

They'd followed the glowing red dot on Rukia's locator and stood together in the street looking up at a very average looking house. Rukia peered down at the dot with a frown. It pulsed on the screen, one large dark red dot signifying a Menos or higher level Hollow. According to the dot, they should have been staring at a Hollow, but instead they stared at the gate leading to the two story house; porch lights on gave a cheery glow to the green front door.

Ichigo bent slightly to read the name plate nailed to the mailbox post: _Hitosanai._

"This doesn't make any sense," Rukia shook the locator angrily.

"Careful, or you'll break it, Kuchiki-san!" With the sound of clopping wood on pavement, Urahara came up from behind them with Renji in tow, "There's nothing wrong with the device,"

"But there's no-"

"Are you sure? Hollows come in all shapes and sizes. Just because this one is particularly powerful doesn't mean it'll look like a normal Menos Grande. Remember Orihime's brother?" He was right. When Orihime's brother had become a Hollow, he was small enough to fit in her bedroom. Of course, he hadn't been a Menos, but that didn't mean this one wasn't either. For all they knew, it could be an Arrancar who were human sized...normally.

"So what's the plan?" Renji tapped Zabimaru against his should impatiently, "Do we just bust in there and take the bastard down?"

"You can't do that!" Rukia frowned at her childhood friend, "If the locator _is _wrong, we'll cause a lot of unneeded distress for whoever lives here!" Apart from Urahara, they were all in Soul Reaper forms. That meant that if they did what Renji suggested, the resident of the house wouldn't be able to see them-only objects moving seemingly on their own-and would most likely think their house was haunted. _That would attract a lot more unwanted audiences_, Ichigo thought, one in particular which he didn't want to deal with. He could already hear Don Kanonji's annoying signature laugh ringing in his head.

"I have a very simple solution," Urahara said, tilting his hat back to smile a them, "Do we know at all who lives here?"

"The name plate says 'Hitosanai'," Ichigo pointed. Urahara nodded and stepped forward. Before they could stop him, he had opened the gate and walked right up to the front door. He jabbed at the buzzer.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Ichigo rushed forward, and Urahara waved at him to hide as the front door opened.

"Why do we have to hide," Ichigo grumbled, massaging his neck. Rukia had yanked him by the collar of his kimono and dragged him back behind the wall surrounding the house, "Normal people can't see us like this anyway."

"But we don't know anything about the person living here," Rukia whispered, peering around the wall, "If they have any kind of spiritual awareness, they'll be able to see us just fine. Or it could even be a trap set by the Hollow."

"Even_ I_ know that, dumbass," Renji smirked. Ichigo balled his fist, ready to smack him one, but Rukia shushed them, looking anxious. The three of them looked around the wall to see who would answer the door.

A woman in her mid thirties gazed pleasantly out at them. She had a pretty face; high cheekbones, pouty lips, and soft brown eyes framed by strands of long jet black hair she had tied up into a loose pony-tail. Ichigo studied her with shock. That hair...it looked just like Starless'!

"Can I help you?" she asked Urahara, who gave her his most dazzling smile, "Miss Hitosanai, I presume?"

"Yes...?"

"I am Kisuke Urahara, owner of Urahara shop, and I would be most honored if I could take this opportunity to show you my assortment of wares!"

The woman narrowed her eyes, "Now? This late at night?"

"Business never sleeps, I'm afraid!" Urahara said swiftly and Ichigo groaned inwardly. Who would be stupid enough to fall for this? Certainly not Miss Hitosanai, who looked very unconvinced, "I'm sorry," she voice was cool, "But I'm very busy and-"

"I assure you, it will take no time at all," Urahara held out to her a large duffel bag. _Where the hell did he get that, _Ichigo thought, "We have the latest herbs and medicines guaranteed to make your youthful skin look even younger!"

"I just don't-"

"Exotic spices sure to add flavor to the blandest meals!"

"Look, I don't want any-"

"One-of-a-kind sewing materials from all around the world!" That got her interest. She stopped looking suspicious and her eyes perked, "All around the world, you say?" she sounded excited, "Well...I suppose you could come in for a bit?"

"Thank you, ma'am!" Urahara's voice carried out to the three hiding behind the thick brick wall in front of the house, "I'll sure to let you _look around _as much as you like!" They got the hint and waited for him to follow her into the house. When the door shut with a snap, the three of them piled out after them. They waited in front of the door for a few moments; Rukia pressed her ear against the door, "Ok, now!" she whispered when she heard Urahara's voice trail away from the door.

Swiftly she opened the door and they slipped inside the house, closing the door quietly behind them.

The inside was just as cheery as out, if not cluttered. All around, even in the entrance where they stood, was sewing materials: full body mannequins, sewing machines, stacks and stacks of clothing material could be seen here and there, "What is all this?" Renji asked, studying a mannequin in horror, "Who does this to a person and mounts it like a sick trophy like this?!"

"It's not an real person," Ichigo said, a little amused, "It's just a dummy for making clothes. I guess she's a designer."

"We don't have much time, "Rukia said, "Spread out. If you find the Hollow, don't approach it on your own. Yell out so the others can come help you." Renji and Ichigo nodded and the three of them spread out to search the house. Rukia cautiously crept left where Urahara's voice ("And this pretty piece is viridian silk from Beijing! A must have for designers with the finest tastes. See how beautifully the green blends with the blue?") drifted from the living room, Renji took the first right and opened a door that seemed to go to the basement; vanished down the flight of stairs, softly closing the door behind him, and Ichigo slowly climbed the stairs leading to the second floor.

The stairs lead to a short hallway. There was five doors to try; two on each side of the hallway, and one at the very end. The first door Ichigo tried opened to a small bathroom. Toilet, sink, stand up shower; no Hollow. No Starless either, but he was starting to get the strong suspicion that the woman downstairs talking to Urahara-Miss Hitosanai-was somehow connected to Starless, if not _was_ her. He closed the bathroom door and moved further down the hallway.

He opened the first door on the right. It opened to a bedroom-bed, side table, a large closet, desk and chair, but not like the one he had in his room: a large sturdy desk made of dark wood with a sewing machine set atop. The desk was also stacked with an assortment of more material. He saw hand-drawn sketches of pretty women wearing dresses, skirts, business attire, even school uniforms, all pinned to a billboard mounted on the wall above the desk. _This must be Hitosanai's room,_ Ichigo thought, slipping inside and closing the door behind him. He had to move fast.

He went to the closet first, opening it wide. Right there, hanging on the back of the closet door from a hook, was the dark cloak he and Rukia had seen Starless wearing, "This only points another finger at her," he muttered, turning to the four drawer dresser before him.

On top was a mirror and a bag of cosmetics, a hair brush and various hair accessories, a silver watch encrusted with diamonds, and a picture. It showed a younger Hitosanai wearing a school uniform. She smiled happily at the camera, her right hand-held in a C in front of her. Her other arm was slung around another girl. This girl also had long dark hair and looked almost identical to Hitosanai, only her eyes were a bright hazel and her complexion was mocha. With an equally joyful smile, the girl had her right arm wrapped around Hitosanai's waist, her left making a C as well. The effect made the girl's two hands, the fingers just touching, look like a heart. The other girl was wearing the same uniform as Hitosanai, "An old school friend, maybe?" Ichigo wondered aloud.

He opened each dresser drawer, starting with the top, but didn't find anything (save the generous amount of lacy panties in the last drawer, which he considered searching and then decided against, feeling both embarrassed and extremely Kon-like). He closed the closet and went over to the night stand, finding nothing in the drawer accept a sketch pad and multitude of pencils. His eyes swept the room, but he didn't see anything else. No Hollow here either, unless the damn thing could turn invisible. He decided to check the other rooms.

The second door on the right opened to an office. This room had shelves and shelves piled high with sewing material and mannequins everywhere, some wearing half-finished designs (a few he recognized from the drawings in the bedroom). There was no closet, but clothing racks like the kind seen in stores. Hanging from them were more clothes than he had ever seen, more than enough to open a store, and three sewing machines. No Hollow.

Ichigo closed the door and hurried to the second door the left side of the hall, feeling like he had been up there for forever, and wondering if Urahara still had the woman's attention downstairs. He opened the door and could hear soft breathing coming from inside, slow and rhythmic. The sounds of someone sleeping. He peeked inside and saw that it was another bedroom.

The lights were off, and he could just make out a figure in the bed. From the stuffed cat sitting in the windowsill above the bed, he figured it was Hitosanai's kid. He didn't want to risk waking her by searching the room, and began to close the door when he saw it.

Hanging inside the room, next to the door, was the mask. The same mask Starless was wearing. The empty eyes stared at him in an unnerving way. He closed the door and turned to the last.

He slowly reached out to grasp the golden doorknob, swallowing nervously. Who knew what lay behind that door? The Hollow wasn't in the other rooms. Could it be waiting to pounce on him behind this one? With his other hand he reached up to grasp Zangetsu's hilt and stopped. Even if he wanted to, the hall was too narrow to swing a sword. He would have to risk leading it out of the house somehow. He took a deep breath, turned the knob, tensed, and opened the door.

It was a small closet, with nothing inside but a broom and vacuum.

* * *

"Find anything?" Ichigo rejoined Rukia and Renji in the entrance. They both shook their heads, "More of those fake corpse things in the basement," Renji said in disgust, "She has them dressed in fancy clothes like dolls; it's sick,"

"I told you, they're not 'corpses'. They're used to make clothes. Geez, and _I'm_ the dumbass?"

"Nothing in the living room, either," Rukia interjected before Renji could reply, "And it seems that Hitosanai doesn't have any spirit awareness. She couldn't see or sense me when I was near. She bought a lot of stuff from Urahara-san, though. She had a big pile of stuff next to her, and I think I saw her filling out an order form, too. No Hollow. Did you find anything, Ichigo?"

"Yeah. Starless' mask and cloak; in Hitosanai's bedroom and her kid's room upstairs. The mask was hanging on the wall in the other room, but her kid's sleeping so..." he trailed off when Urahara came walking towards them from the living room, a happy smiling Hitosanai trailing behind him,

"Thank you so much, Urahara-san-"

"Please, call me Kisuke," Urahara said with a smile, "With how much you purchased, I should me thanking you, Miss-"

"Hitomi," she smiled, "Please. How soon might I expect my order?"

"Such a large amount will take some time, but I will personally have it delivered they moment it arrives!"

"Oh, you needn't go through such trouble-"

"For my best customer, I insist!" Urahara gave her a bow, ushering Ichigo and the others to get out of the way. He swiftly opened the door, ushering to them again. They squeezed out as Urahara called, "Have a wonderful night, Hitomi. I hope to have you visit my shop in the future; I'm sure I could interest you in some of those lotions I herbs and spices I mentioned before."

"I'm sure you could," she laughed, "Good night, Kisuke! Thanks again!" She closed the door with a snap.

Urahara grinned at them all, "Well," he said, strolling passed them with his pocket book looking suspiciously heavy, "To the shop to celebrate a mission well done, I think!"

"But we didn't find the Hollow," Ichigo protested. Rukia flipped open her locator. The red dot gleamed at them from their current location, unchanging and insisting upon a Hollow within the house they had just searched.

"The locator must be faulty after all," Urahara said cheerfully, "I'll take a look at it in the shop...free of charge!" He laughed merrily and clopped down the path. The others sighed and followed.

* * *

"Mom? Who was that?"

Hitomi Hitosanai turned from the door she had just shut after saying goodbye to the handsome salesman, smiling at her daughter, "Kisuke Urahara of Urahara shop," she said with a gleeful giggle,

"He had the loveliest materials! I'll have to show you what I bought in the morning; they're sure to be just the thing for that one piece I sketched yesterday. I ordered even more! Sorry, did we wake you?"

Her daughter shook her head, rubbing at her eyes with a yawn, "It's okay, I just wanted to see what was going on. Be careful with how much you buy, or you'll end up having to sell all those new material to pay the bills!"

"Nonsense! When these dresses hit the market, we'll be rolling in cash!" she laughed aloud and kissed her daughter on the cheek, "Go back to sleep, darling. You still feel a little feverish. Sleep tight."

Reiko smiled in response before turning and heading back upstairs, "Night, Mom."

-To be continued...


	7. 非マスクの質問 (Unmasked Questions)

"So...the Hollow wasn't there?" Orihime look confused, "But, Kuchiki-san's locator-"

"I know," Ichigo said with a sigh, "Urahara said there was nothing wrong with it when he checked it after we got back. But we checked that entire house-no Hollow."

It was Saturday and the four of them (Rukia, Ichigo, Orihime and Renji) were crouched on the roof of the school building waiting for the last bell to signify the end of classes, "And Hitosanai-san didn't seem to have any spiritual awareness," Rukia said with a shake of her head, "Of course, she could have faked not having any awareness to throw us off..."

"Hitosanai...?" Orihime frowned, furrowing her eyebrows. Ichigo looked around at her, "What's up, Inoue?"

"It's just...that name," Orihime poked at her forehead with a finger, thinking hard, "I know that name somewhere..."

"It's the woman who lives in that house," Renji said with a wave of his hand, "So what?"

"Hitosanai...Hitosanai..." Orihime muttered. Suddenly her eyes grew wide, "Hito...neesan?"

"What did you say?"

"The woman...did she have really long, pretty hair?"

"Yeah, I guess," Ichigo nodded, "We thought she was Starless at first because of her hair-"

"HITO-NEESAN!" Orihime leapt to her feet and the others stared at her, "She's Hito-neesan!"

"Hito...?" Ichigo echoed,

"Nee-san?" Renji and Rukia exchanged a glance,

"What are you talking about?"

"I told you before, didn't I?" Orihime pumped her fists excitedly, "That my brother had to get advice when he was raising me. Well, usually he went to Hito-neesan, because she lived down the street and had a little girl of her own!"

"Your brother went to Hito-neesan...!" Ichigo suddenly grasped what Orihime was trying to tell him, "Who had a little girl of her own..?!"

"Hito-neesan! Hitosanai! Reiko's mother!"

Ichigo stood and ran down the stairs leading from the roof, "After him!" Rukia shouted and the others followed her as they rushed after Ichigo, "I don't get it," Renji huffed next to her, "Why is it important that Hitosanai is this 'Reiko' girl's mother?"

"Because this all started when Sagara-san and her family got here!" Rukia gritted her teeth, "I don't know why we never realized it before...she has to be connected to Starless. If we could just get her to talk, she could tell us everything we need to know!" They flew down the hall, apologizing to a group of upperclassmen who were scattered like bowling pins after Ichigo plowed through them to get to the classroom,

"REIKO!" he shouted, throwing open the classroom door.

Her desk was empty. The lingering students all stared at Ichigo, who panted from running so fast, "Ke-Keigo!" Keigo looked slightly uncomfortable as a very sweaty Ichigo towered over him, "Where's Reiko?!" Rukia, Renji and Orihime stopped in the doorway, peering in anxiously,

"S-Sagara-chan...?"

"YES! Where'd she go?"

"She...she said she wasn't...feeling good so...I think she went home early...? Or to the nurse...I'm not sure which-"

"That's good enough!" Ichigo turned to the three waiting in the hall, "Rukia! You go check the nurse's office! Renji, Inoue, we're searching outside! She can't have gotten too far, and if she's heading home we'll know where to go!" They nodded. Rukia took off running for the nurse's office while Renji and Orihime followed Ichigo outside.

"Renji, you take the sky! See if you can spot her!"

"With hair that bright, it'll be impossible not to!" Renji said. He took a Soul Candy container from his pants pocket and pressed the cartoon cat head on top. A small green pill popped out of its mouth, which he swallowed. His soul seperated from the gigai and he lept into the air, calling down to the mod in his body, "You head back to Urahara's and wait for us there, where you won't be in the way!"

"Alright-nyan!" Renji's body waved a paw shaped fist, "He might even give me fish, purrrchance!" and bounded off.

"Stay close, Inoue," Ichigo said as the two of them ran down a small alleyway short-cut, "As of now, we have no idea who Reiko really is. I know her Mom was nice to you when you were a kid, but-"

"I know, Kurasaki-kun," she looked determined as she reached up to brush the flower pin twinkling in her hair, "We can't trust her until we know what's-Kurosaki-kun! Over there!" He looked in the direction she was pointing.

In the distance, flying low enough that her feet could brush the pavement, was Starless; dressed in the cloak and mask Ichigo had seen in Hitosanai's house. She no longer flew with the feathery black wings Ichigo and Rukia saw her use last, but instead sat side-saddle on what appeared to be a long metal pole.

"Isn't that...?"

"It is! STARLESS!" the mask turned in their direction. At the sight of them, Starless took off down the street at an amazing speed; oddly enough, she kept low to the ground, "Damnit!" Ichigo pressed his Badge against his chest, taking off after Starless once he was separated from his body.

"Wait! Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime called after him, holding up the limp form of his body, "What should I do with your body? Kurosaki-kun!"

Whether he ignored her or thought that he would loose sight of Starless if he turned to answer, Ichigo left Orihime to struggle with dragging his body somewhere where it wouldn't attract attention as he slowly gained on Starless.

"Hold on!" He called when he was within earshot of her without having to yell, "I just wanna ask you-" Starless quickly turned to face him. She'd taken a hand off the pole as she flew, and held that hand out to Ichigo, palm facing him.

"Shit!" Ichigo veered just in time to avoid the burst of bright red flame that shot from Starless' palm. It flew past him, struck a brick wall on his left, and covered him in a cloud of dust and debris. When he emerged from the dust, coughing and rubbing at his eyes, Starless was further away. She seemed to have lost some speed. He glanced at the wall where the flames had collided before taking off after her again, making a mental note to keep his distance and not give her another opening.

He ran after Starless; far enough so that she wouldn't fire at him again, but close enough so that she knew she was still being followed. After a couple blocks, where Starless seemed to be flying slower and slower, she took a sharp right turn and vanished into an alley. Ichigo quickened his pace and soon reached the alley himself. He turned down it and stopped.

Starless had driven herself into a dead end. She hovered, her feet (which Ichigo noticed were bare) barely brushing the pavement, "Ran out of places to go?" he took a slow step forward. For some reason, Starless seemed...weak. The blast she'd sent at him hadn't seemed very powerful, although he dodged it out of instinct, and it had barely made a hole in the wall it hit. And then there was the question as to why Starless was flying so low to the ground, when she had demonstrated that she was very capable of soaring high in the sky.

_Could it be she's too weak to fly that high? _he thought to himself, taking another step forward. Starless tensed and raised a palm to face him again, "That's not gonna work this time," Ichigo said with a grin,

"Think I haven't noticed? You're weaker than last time. You're probably too weak to even shoot another one of those weird fireballs." Her arm dropped a little, telling him he was right in his assumptions.

He took another step forward, "We just want to talk, is all," another step, "Why don't you just come back with me to my friend's shop," a few more steps and he'd be able to snatch her right off that pole, "and then we can go to Soul Society and explain to them-" he knew the moment he said it that he'd screwed up.

At the mention of Soul Society, Starless tensed and raised her arm again and aimed it square at Ichigo's chest. A flash of brilliant golden light made his eyes tear up before he was thrown backwards off his feet from the force of something hitting him. He groaned, laying on his back on the ground, and looked down at his chest. His entire body was wrapped in glowing gold chains.

They wrapped around his shoulders and all around, all the way down to his feet, pinning his arms to his sides. He looked up, incredulously, at Starless. She glanced down at him once, and he could have sworn he heard her chuckle, before she took off into the air, soaring over the wall and into the sky. She'd apparently found her strength again.

"STARLESS!" Ichigo bucked, trying to break the chains that held him, but to no avail. They weren't anything like the binding spell Rukia had put on him the first day they met. He felt like they were actually draining him of energy as he struggled to break the chains. He had to do something, he thought as he desperately watched Starless soar even higher, if she was related to Hitosanai and Reiko somehow, she would most likely go to their house. There she would wait for them, impossible to ambush, and even if they wanted to, she would no doubt become their enemy afterwards (if she wasn't already, after this).

"DAMNIT-!" Ichigo's swear was drowned out by another voice, "Howl! Zabimaru!" Renji appeared in Ichigo's field of vision (he could only see what was directly above him, thanks to the damn chains). At his command, Renji's Zanpakutō, Zabimaru, awakened as he rushed at Starless.

* * *

**This isn't a good idea, **Torusei hissed as she willed herself to fly higher and higher, **with your spirit energy being unstable, the power could give out any moment! You could fall!**

_I don't have a choice!_ _He's right, I don't have the power to fight, let alone cast a proper binding! If I don't find some clouds to cover me, he'll follow me once it breaks. You heard him! They'll drag me back to Soul Society!_

**That won't matter if the power gives out and you fall to your death.**

_Shut up! _She screamed at him, her own fear and panic at the truth of his words making her angry, _Just shut up-!_

"Howl! Zabimaru!"

_Zabi-what? _She glanced down in time to see...something..._is that a sword?..._fly towards her. Without thinking, she took both hands off the pole, cutting off the flow of energy, and threw her arms out to protect herself. She felt a searing pain in her arms as she was knocked off the pole, and then she was falling.

**Once again, I told you so, **Torusei tsked in her ear before her power peaked and fell once more, dragging her into unconsciousness with the feel of the wind rushing through her hair while she plummeted to the ground 20 feet below.

* * *

Both Renji and Ichigo were shocked when Zabimaru connected with Starless. They were even more shocked to see the blow knock her out of the air. Renji stared in amazement as Starless hurtled towards him,

"I didn't think she'd go down that easily," he muttered while Ichigo screamed below him, "CATCH HER, YOU MORON!" Renji dove forward, making a grab for Starless' hand. His fingers closed on it before she slipped out of his grasp. She was going to hit the ground!

"Santen Kesshun!" Something whizzed over Ichigo's head and towards the falling Starless. In a gleam of light, a large triangle shaped, nearly transparent shield of energy expanded in mid air, catching Starless just before she hit the ground. Ichigo craned his neck back to see Orihime standing at the entrance of the alleyway, panting hard from running to catch up with him, "Inoue!"

"Just...in time..." Orihime smiled and flashed the peace sign, "But...why are you laying on the ground, Kurosaki-kun?"

"Why? Can't you see these-" he flexed against the chains to emphasize...only they weren't there anymore. In his surprise at seeing Starless getting knocked out from a single blow, he hadn't noticed the chains break and vanish when she'd been hit. Ichigo sat up, rubbing his head where he'd hit it when he fell, "It was...they were right...nevermind! Renji!" he waved at him, "Go get Rukia and meet us at Urahara's!"

"On it!" Renji sheathed Zabimaru and started off back the way they had come, towards the school.

"Bring her down, Inoue," Ichigo stood, looking up at the figure of Starless in Orihime's Three Sacred Links Shield, "We're gonna unmask Starless right here and now!" Orihime nodded and raised her hands to direct the shield down to them. She dissolved it just before it reached the alley and Starless' limp body dropped lightly into Ichigo's arms. He crouched down, carefully laying her on the ground. Her long raven black hair pooled around her and Ichigo had a hard time not stepping on it.

"She's hurt!" Orihime exclaimed, pointing at the bloody gashes on Starless' forearms, "Renji used a little more force than he expected she could handle," Ichigo said, "From the descriptions we've given Soul Society, who would have thought she'd go down without even a Bankai?"

"I should-"

"Not yet! Not until we know who she is."

The two of them stared down at the strange tiger mask. Ichigo slowly reached out, and was stopped by Orihime's questioning hand on his, "Don't worry," he said, seeing how worried she was, "We won't hurt her if she really is an ally."

"And if she's not...?"

He didn't say anything; he didn't have to. They both knew what would happen if she was an enemy.

He placed a hand on Starless' mask, and glanced at Orihime. She nodded at him. He nodded in return, turned back to Starless and pushed the mask up to stare down at Reiko's face, flushed with fever.

Reiko Sagara wasn't only connected to Starless...she _was_ Starless.

-To be continued


	8. ホロウの同名の人 (Hollowfied Namesake)

"Ko!"

Reiko looked up at the warm voice calling her name, a wide smile on her lips. "Finally! What took you so long?"

"Ha, ha! Sorry, sorry! Clean up took a little longer than I expected." Ryuhei Sagara laughed good-naturally as he stood panting in front of her, "Akise-kun forgot to turn in the reports before he left, too, so I had to run them down to the teacher's lounge." He gave her one of his small boyish smiles, "You know you could have gone ahead without me, I wouldn't have minded."

Reiko shook her head, "I said I would wait, so I did. It's ok," she grinned at him, "But that means you're buying!"

"Whaaat? But I bought last time!"

"Too bad! It's your punishment for making me wait for so long!" Ryuhei heaved a dramatic sigh, but made no more complaints as he followed his best friend off the school grounds. They walked side-by-side down the street and soon came upon the small ice cream vender who had set up shop at the end of the street.

"Ah! Sagara-kun! Hitosanai-chan!" The vender gave them a warm greeting when he saw them approach, "I was starting to worry you weren't coming today, and I just got a fresh batch of pumpkin spice!" He smiled at the two high schoolers who stopped by his little cart almost every day after school to get cones of his handmade ice cream.

"Ooooh!" Reiko moaned in longing at the sound of pumpkin spice ice cream. She loved that ice cream, and wished that the vender served it all year round instead of just during the Fall.

"Two cones, please!" Ryuhei was already handing the vender the money, "Make one a double scoop," he winked at Reiko.

"Two cones, one double scoop, coming right up! And keep your cash, boy, it's on the house today."

"We couldn't-"

"I insist! With how faithful you two have been to this humble rolling shop of mine, I think I can spare a few scoops of ice cream." He smiled kindly at them, and they grinned back, happily accepting the cones he handed out to them. They walked away with a wave of thanks, greedily licking the tasty orange colored snack.

"Lucky you," Reiko said between licks, "You escaped your punishment nicely, didn't you, Ryu?"

He laughed, "I thought so, too!" He looked over at her cone, "Ah! You're dripping!" He grabbed her hand to bring her cone closer and licked the sweet drops that had threatened to drip onto her fingers. Reiko felt her face flush red, "H-Hey!" Ryuhei licked his lips with an impish smile, "Relax, you still have a whole scoop more than me!"

"That's not the point!"

Ryuhei laughed again, turning back to focus on his own cone of slowly melting ice cream. They walked for a while in silence, enjoying each other's company and finishing the cones. Even though she had more than him, Reiko finished hers first; stuffing the last bit of cone in her mouth with a sigh of satisfaction.

"I know I've said this before, but I love that man's pumpkin ice cream!"

"Oh, really? I didn't notice." Ryuhei raised an eyebrow at her as she licked the stickiness from her fingers. She stuck a tongue out at him, very childishly, and he smiled. He finished his own cone, refraining from licking his fingers, and looked up at the sky, "Sun will set soon. Wanna watch at the river before heading home?" Reiko agreed.

When they reached the riverbank-sitting on the flat grassy area overlooking nothing but water and sky-the sun had indeed begun to set. "How pretty..." Reiko said, staring at the pink and purple haze that had spread above them.

"Yeah..." she looked over at Ryuhei and met his eyes. He hadn't been talking about the sky. His soft hazel eyes, _Much prettier than the sunset, _Reiko thought, stared into her own. They sat like that for some time, staring into each other's eyes, and then...slowly...Ryuhei began to move closer. "Ryu...?" her voice was a whisper.

"Hmm?" His face was awfully close. She could have counted each of his long eyelashes, if she wanted to, "W-wait..." she held a hand against his chest, stopping him just before his lips brushed against hers. There was hurt in his eyes now. She had thought, had hoped, that he'd felt the same about her. But now that he was proving that to be true...

"It's just..." she bit her lower lip nervously, "I...I have to tell you something..."

"You like someone else..?"

"NO! No...that's not...I...I _do _like you! I never thought that you would-"

"Reiko," he surprised her by using her full name. He'd been calling her "Ko" for months now, "I've loved you since last Fall. Remember, when we went to see the leaves?" She did remember.

He'd told her of a grove of cherry trees whose leaves had all turned Fall colors. At her request, he took her to the grove. The hundreds of trees dressed in gold, red, purple, and lingering hints of green had been enchanting, especially when a strong gust of wind had swirled the leaves around them in a dance of stunning colors.

"I remember watching you twirl in that leaf storm like a little kid and I knew it then. Watching you laugh, all I could think was 'Damn, how I love her.' I think that all the time. I thought it just now, watching you looking at the sky. Damn, Reiko, how I love you." his voice was a whisper, but his words rang through her as if he had shouted them at the top of his lungs.

"Ryu..." she was at a loss for words. He took that as a sign and before she could protest, he brushed his lips against hers in a soft kiss. It was a sweet and delicious kiss, tasting of pumpkin spice. She pulled back with a small gasp, her heart racing, "You can't," she said urgently, her voice shaking as she clutched the emerald stone hanging around her neck, "You can't love me! You can't!" she'd begun to cry and hated herself for it.

Ryuhei reached up and wiped away a tear with a small boyish smile, "Too late," he said, and his voice was strong; determined and wonderful to her ears, "I already do."

"But you can't..." Reiko looked at him through tearful eyes; at his messy cherry red hair that framed his beautiful eyes, at the smile that always shinned on his face, at the boy who had been her one and only friend since she had moved to Shinjuku over a year ago. The boy she realized she loved very much, and because of that, could never be with, "You don't know me...not the real me. I...I've been keeping something so horribly important from you, something I know that, once you know, you'll never want to see me again!" her lip trembled at the thought of sharing her secret with him.

Gently he placed a hand on top of hers, the one clutching them gem hanging from its golden chain, the one she hadn't realized was visibly shaking as she spoke. "You can tell me anything, Ko. You know that. And nothing you say could ever stop how I feel." he smiled even wider, "I've watched you scarf more ice cream and deserts that's physically possible for a normal person, seen you sick and looking gross with the flue, even suffered through your bad action-movie phase over the past year, and I still love you."

She laughed. She couldn't help it. He laughed too, his hand tightening on hers, "I'm always on your side...you know that, don't you? No matter what, I'll always be here for you. And I'll always love you." The smile had faded. He looked at her with a serious gaze she had never seen before. She felt her heart beat faster and a strange warmth spread through her body. She kissed him, a long and desperate kiss, and felt his surprise beneath her lips before he was eagerly kissing her back, when it happened.

A cold chill engulfed them as an ear splitting screech split the air. Ryuhei and Reiko broke apart at the sound and Reiko stared up in horror at the large hole that had seemed to tear open in the once beautiful sky. The purple and pink was blocked by a swirling gape of black, a hole Reiko had seen many times. She stood hurriedly, "Oh no, not again!"

Ryuhei stood next to her, not looking at the swirling hole which he could not see, but looking at her curiously, "Did you hear that scream? What kind of creature-" whatever he said next, Reiko didn't hear over the next terrifying scream as the Hollow appeared. Large with long spindly arms, it pulled itself out of the rift between worlds before them. It was big! Much bigger than the ones she was normally used to dealing with. It grinned at them with it's elongated, lizardly mask, a long tongue flicking out between its teeth.

"GET DOWN!" Reiko pushed Ryuhei to the side, diving out of the way herself as the Hollow sprang at them. It flew between them, landing in the grass with a heavy thump that shook the ground beneath them.

_Torusei!_

**It's ready. **The voice whispered in her mind. She reached up to touch the emerald stone hanging around her neck, the stone that pulsed as quickly as her own beating heart. Out of the stone materialized a long machete. She turned, the blade in her hand, and froze in horror.

The Hollow had Ryuhei pinned to the ground, a long clawed hand holding each of his arms down at his side, "What's going on?" Ryuhei's voice trembled with fear as he spoke, struggling against the unseen force that had him trapped, "Something...something's there!" he looked over at Reiko, his voice still trembling but urgent as he spoke next, "Reiko!" he begged and she thought he was going to ask her to save him, but instead he screamed, "Get out of here, hurry! RUN!" The Hollow opened its large mouth, and Reiko knew that if Ryuhei could see it, he'd be staring into an abyss of nothingness between the Hollow's jaws.

"RYU!" she screamed, running towards him with her weapon raised. The Hollow, without even giving her a glance, swiped its long lizard tail and knocked her back. The air escaped from her lungs in a WHOOSH as she went sailing backwards, hitting the ground hard and rolling, the machete knocked from her hands. With a groan, she raised her head just in time to see the Hollow lower its own, blocking Ryuhei from view. But she heard his screams of pain when those horrid teeth clamped down on him; on the cherry red hair, on those hazel eyes, on the boyish smile he always reserved for her.

"RYUUUUUUU!" Her scream echoed through the no-longer beautiful sky.

* * *

With a gasp, Reiko woke up. Her hand was stretched out, reaching for the boy she had failed to save. She could feel the tears already drying on her face.

Many years had passed since the day she'd watched the lizard-like Hollow devour Ryuhei Sagara, the only and last boy she'd ever loved, but the memory was fresh in her mind. And the nightmares still haunted her sleep. She never knew why the Hollow had chosen to attack him (after all, hadn't it been her own uncontrollable power that had lured it in the first place?) but she never forgot the pain she'd felt watching him die, or the gripping sorrow that had threatened to consume her when she stood staring down at his bloodied and mangled body after she'd destroyed the Hollow.

It was after his death that she made it her mission to find a way to be-rid herself of the wretched curse placed upon her by her ancestors, to do anything necessary to make sure her powers were completely stripped from her. When that day came, she would go to Ryuhei's grave and beg for his forgiveness for not doing it sooner, for not looking hard enough for the solution to being normal, for having the damn power that had attracted the Hollow in the first place and ended his young life before it had really started. For not telling him the truth. Since that day, she'd taken to calling herself "Reiko Sagara", so that she would never forget.

She lowered her arm and it plopped next to her. Her breathing was hard, and her face still felt warm with the fever that had appeared ever since she drank the foul liquid Kisuke Urahara had given her. She looked around.

She was in a small and tidy room. Someone had put her to bed in a small futon and perhaps had been wiping her brow clear of sweat as she thrashed in her fever; she saw a small pail with water and a cloth sitting close by. The room was empty but she could hear voices coming from the next room over and recognized Ichigo Kurosaki's voice instantly, although she couldn't quite hear what he was saying. She tried to sit up but was hit by a wave of nausea and dizziness so strong that she had to lay back down.

**Finally awake, are you? **Torusei's voice whispered across her mind and she answered him in kind, _What...happened?_

**What happened is I was right...again. The power gave out as the Shinigami's attack landed. If it weren't for that girl, you would be dead and I'd have found a new host already.**

_Girl? What girl?_

**That Orihime Inoue. Very interesting power; I'd like a chance to talk with her about it one day. For the time being we've been taken to Kisuke Urahara's shop. The little rag-tag-gang has been talking about who knows what in the other room ever since-Ahh! You shouldn't do that! **Reiko tried to sit up again, slowly this time, and found that the dizziness wasn't so bad after all. Her hand nudged something and she heard a small metallic rattle. She glanced down. It was the Spiritus Patina (Spirit Charger), the reishi generated pole Torusei had given her in their last deal. In a flash, she remembered taking her hands off of it to protect herself, breaking the flow of spirit energy she had been channeling into it to fly. Pain. Then falling.

Reiko gripped the Patina and used it to help herself to her feet, panting with the effort but not feeling as if she would pass out anytime soon. Using the Patina as a cane she made her way to the door separating her from the other room and, ignoring Torusei's protests, flung it open.

* * *

They all stared at Reiko in surprise, "Rei-chan!" Orihime half raised from the table, but Reiko held a hand up to motion her to sit back down, "Which one of you did it?" she asked in a dangerously quiet voice, her head down and shielded from view by her long raven hair.

"Which...what?" Ichigo shared a look with Rukia, who looked just as perplexed. Reiko raised her head and he cringed at the furry she saw in his eyes, "Which one of you assholes attacked me full on and almost killed me?!" she demanded. They said nothing, but quietly looked, one-by-one, at Renji who was nervously tugging at his headband.

"So...it was you." Reiko studied him, remembering him as the guy who had sat next to her in class a couple days before, "The red one."

"Y-yeah..." Renji was sweating now, "S-sorry about that...I didn't mean to, honest! I thought that-"

"Thought you'd just off me and save yourself the trouble of hauling me back to that shithole?"

The venom in her voice, mixed with what she was actually saying, shocked Ichigo so that it took him a moment to realize she was talking about Soul Society. He studied the girl standing before him. She was no longer his cheery red-headed classmate, the one with the kind smile and twinkling laugh who'd shared her lunch with him on the roof. She was one hundred percent Starless, raven hair, sharp tongue and all.

"N-No! I didn't...I would never...that's not..." Renji faltered, not knowing what to say (**A little harsh, don't you think? **Torusei whispered to her, but he sounded amused despite his words) and Rukia saved Renji the trouble, "How do you feel, Sagara-san? Do your arms hurt at all?"

"My...my arms?" the question threw her off so that she momentarily forgot her anger. _That's right, _she thought, _I remember them getting all cut up. _There wasn't a mark on her mocha skin at all. Her forearms, which had bled heavily when Zabimaru had slashed them, were fully healed.

"They feel fine, but how-?"

"I healed you up as quickly as I could!" Orihime said nervously, "You were loosing so much blood, I was afraid I hadn't done it soon enough." she threw a glare at Ichigo, who shrugged as if to say _Better safe than sorry._

"Thank you, Orihime..." Reiko's voice was genuine as she looked at the girl her mother had talked about so much years ago, and then her eyes narrowed again and hardened, this time on Kisuke Urahara, who stiffened with the lower half of his face hidden behind his large fan.

"Kiiiisukeeee!" She staggered forward, almost falling over until Chad, who'd come from making tea in the kitchen to her left, steadied her. She glanced at him in thanks, but the rage was back in her voice as she confronted the shop owner, "What the hell did you do to me?"

"Pardon?" Urahara asked, his voice light and innocent, "I'm afraid I-"

"THE REPELLENT!" Reiko shouted, immediately wishing she hadn't as the dizziness swept over her again. She lowered her voice, "That so called 'repellent' you sold me! That nasty, disgusting smelling liquid! It didn't suppress my reishi at all, it _increased _it, you bastard!"

"Nasty...increased..." Urahara's voice sounded very confused, "The repellent I sold you should have done just as I said; all but blocked your spiritual energy so that it was undetectable to Hollows. And it was far from 'nasty', I made sure of that! It was lemon flavored!"

"If rotting cheese is your idea of 'lemon flavored', you really need to get yourself checked out!"

"Rotting-?" Urahara snapped the fan closed, "Sagara-san, by any chance do you still have the bottle?" She did.

She rummaged in the pocket of her cloak and tossed the bottle to him, the cork removed. The wafting smell of putrid cheese filled the room, making the others gag.

"You actually drank something that smelled like that?" Renji asked and fell quiet when Reiko fixed him with another cold stare. Urahara, unperturbed, sniffed at the bottle, both his nose and eyebrows wrinkling, "This...is not lemon. It's also not what I sold you."

"Bullshit!" Reiko cried, twinging at the dizziness and ignoring it, "That's the bottle you handed me!"

"That may well be, but this was not the repellent I-"

"Stop lying to me!" She was absolutely furious now. She raised a hand, palm up, and aimed it at Urahara, "Don't you dare lie to me, you damn Shinigami! You think I don't know? You may not work for _them_ anymore, but you're doing their dirty work, all the same!"

"Reiko...calm down..." Ichigo had half risen from his seat at the table, "Don't so something you'll-"

"SHUT UP, SHINIGAMI!" her eyes were wild now, and even Chad had backed away from her (although it looked like he was getting ready to tackle her to the ground if need be) "You're just like them! What was the plan, huh?" she turned back to Urahara, "Make my reishi peak so the others could come and get me?! Or were you hoping that the Hollows would get to me first?!"

"Sagara-san, be rational," Rukia this time, her own hand raised, palm forward, facing her in a defensive manner, "You need some more rest. You're still weak-"

"I have enough strength for this!" Reiko's arm tensed and Ichigo knew she was going to fire one of those fireballs, the blazing red or maybe the blue, straight into Urahara's face and he prepared himself to get out of the way.

Only nothing happened. Nothing at all.

Reiko looked just as shocked as the rest of them. She looked at her hand in wonder, "What..?" she raised it again, concentrating with all her might to fire a hail of red flames into the lying bastard's face who had sold her the liquid which was making her life a whole lot more difficult. Again, nothing happened. Reiko's grip on the Patina slipped and she slid to her knees on the floor.

"The powers...are gone..." she whispered, until the emerald stone angling from its chain around her neck pulsed in a steady reminder and killing the small burst of hope that had raised its head within her.

**Not quite, my lovely, **Torusei whispered in her mind. No...the curse _hadn't_ broken, but for some reason or other she couldn't access any of the powers she had exchanged her very life force to gain, the powers she needed if she had any hope of becoming strong enough to break the curse for good.

Ichigo and the others stared in wonder as Reiko broke down and began to cry for the first time since Ryuhei's death.

-To be continued...


	9. 鬼黄泉検出のガイド (An Oniyomi Guide to Sensing)

With one final and pathetic sniffle, Reiko stopped crying. Rather, she _forced_ herself to stop crying. She hung her head, her long hair hiding her face from view, as Urahara cleared his throat to speak, "Sagara-san," his voice was low and kind; sincere, "I swear to you that I am telling you the truth. What you bought from me was a repellent, meant to shield you from Hollow attention and nothing more..."

Slowly, she raised her head to look at him. Even with tears glistening in her eyes, Ichigo found Reiko's stare...unnerving. Without blinking, she studied Urahara for a while in silence. Then her shoulders dropped in defeat and the intensity vanished from her eyes, "I believe you. But whoever did this has cut me off from my powers, powers I _need. _By doing so, they've put not only me but anyone around me in danger. When I find them, they're dead."

"Isn't that a little-" Ichigo started and she turned on him in a flurry, "It's not anything, Ichigo! I won't stand for this. I. Attract. Hollows. What part of that do you not understand? For what reason did you think their numbers have increased so drastically over the last few months?"

"Few months...? They've only increased over the past few days-"

"I'm a lot quicker than you think," her voice sounded smug, "I came to Karakura almost four months ago, and most of the Hollows appear right where I am. I've been able to get rid of them before your little alarms go off." She nodded at the badge and Rukia's cellphone sitting on the small table in front of her. "It seems that you've been a little...lacking, while on the job. You didn't even notice you were getting help, until now."

Now it was Ichigo's turn to get mad, "And whose fault is it that there's been so many Hollows in the first place?!" He snapped at her, "If you never came here, we wouldn't be having problems like vanishing Hollows and signals getting screwed up!"

"You're right." Her admittance surprised everyone. She sat back, her arms crossed over her chest with a sigh, "None of this would be happening if I never came here, but I had to. I didn't know of anyone else besides Kisuke who might have been able to help me...lot of good that did."

"You mean...you came back to find Urahara-san?" Orihime looked confused, "Why? For the repellent?"

Reiko hesitated before slowly nodding, "Yes...among other reasons."

"What other reasons?" Renji asked. Reiko threw him another glare, "It's none of your business."

"It damn well is! I was sent to find out exactly what your intentions are and if you'll be a threat to this world or Soul Society-"

"So it was Soul Society who gave you the order to attack someone who isn't even threatening you?"

Renji's face turned crimson with anger and embarrassment, "I already said 'sorry' for that, didn't I? You're fine now-"

"No thanks to you."

"What exactly was it that you were hoping I could help you with," Urahara asked, cutting Renji off from his retort, "Apart from the repellent, of course, which I'm sure I could make another batch of if you wished?" Reiko shook her head, "I'm not even sure it would work this time, or even if it would have worked at all. Torusei didn't think it would, anyway, and he's usually right...unfortunately."

"Torusei?" She hesitated again, looking as though she'd wished she hadn't said anything.

"Is he...is _that_ your Zanpakutō?" Rukia asked, looking at the Spiritus Patina (Spirit Charger) sitting beside Reiko. Reiko shook her head, resting a hand on the Patina as she spoke, "This is just a tool. A way to channel my powers into substantial essence. I already told you, I'm not a Shinigami."

"You were flying on that thing earlier," Ichigo studied the rod, "But you didn't have it the first time we saw you. What happened to the wings?"

"They became inconvenient so I had to ask Torusei for something else."

"That's the second time you mentioned him. Who is he, if he's not your Zanpakutō?"

"He's..." Reiko trailed off. She didn't know how to describe him. She didn't even really know what he _was_, "A friend."

"This friend of yours seems very apt at manipulating spirit energy," Urahara observed, "Why didn't you ask him for help? Could he maybe do something to help you regain those powers that you've lost?"

"I don't think so. He can't do anything about giving me back what he's already...I just don't think it's something he can do. I doubt even _he_ knows why my powers have..." she trailed off, her eyes widening, "Or maybe..."

"What?"

"I can't believe I never asked him...maybe they're not really gone at all...if my reishi is still..." She reached up and clasped the green gem hanging from its chain around her neck. "You know what I want," she said loudly, and they all looked around to see who she was talking to, "So hurry up and get out here, already!"

From the gem emerged a swirling mass of what looked like black smoke. It swirled in around Reiko and slowly solidified into a very handsome man. He knelt beside her on bended knee and smiled at them all from beneath a shock of hair as bright and red as Renji's, but shorter. It barely brushed his shoulders and fell lightly into his eyes. Those eyes sparkled with mischief, the same color as the stone he had appeared from, and they all stared at the two small objects mounted on his head. They poked out from his red hair to glint in the over-head lights; two small horns, like a goat. If it hadn't been for these horns, he would have looked like any other human-being, granted one that looked like a supermodel.

"Holy-!" Ichigo backed away from the table, surprised at the newcomer's sudden appearance, "Where did...? How...? What the hell are you?"

**Rather rude, this one. **Torusei remarked as he folded his legs to sit at the table. Gently, he lifted one of Reiko's arms and turned it, testing the smooth skin with a finger, **She fixed you up rather nicely didn't she, my lovely? No pain at all? **Reiko wrenched her arm away, "I'm fine," she said shortly and Torusei grinned at the anger in her voice, "Just look, will you? Is my reishi still there?"

"What's going on?" Renji asked and fell quiet when Reiko held a hand up to silence him. She nodded at Torusei who stared back at her. No...it was more than that, Ichigo realized as he watched the strange man study the girl beside him. Torusei was looking at Reiko with that same, soul-gazing stare that she often gave herself. They sat in silence while Torusei studied Reiko; never blinking, with his eyes flitting over her here and there.

"Well?" Reiko asked impatiently when a few minutes had passed without him saying anything, "Can you see it or not?"

**I...see it. **His voice sounded odd, as if he was choosing his words carefully **But, it's strange. I have to admit, even _I_ have never seen anything like it before.**

"Ok, what the hell is he talking about?" Renji growled, "'See reishi'? I understand being able to _feel_ it, but I've never heard of someone being able to actually _see_ it. Not in its raw form, anyway. It can only be seen through an attack with Zanpakutō or kidō or something, right?."

"There are other ways," Rukia surveyed Torusei with a weary look, "Elder brother mentioned it to me once before." She took out her drawing pad from her school bag sitting beside her and plopped it on the table (Ichigo and Renji both suppressed groans). "There are four levels of sensing reishi," Rukia explained as she began to draw on the pad with a black marker. Torusei leaned over her shoulder to look, his face bright with amusement and curiosity.

"There are those that can 'feel' it, like Soul Reapers and even humans with high spiritual awareness. People like the Quincy, and Inoue-san, take this sense to a whole other level; to what is called 'touch'. These are the highest level of sensing because it allows for the manipulation of reishi into physical power."

"Me?" Orihime looked surprised. Rukia nodded, "Your Sōten Kisshun (Twin Heavenly Returning Shield) and Santen Kesshun (Triple Heavenly Linking Shield). The concept is a little different from the Quincy, but you are able to Touch spiritual particles in order to form both shields. While you use them in defensive terms, the Quincy use them in offensive ones."

"Ishida's arrows?" Ichigo tried to keep a straight face at the crudely drawn rabbit in Soul Reaper clothes Rukia had drawn to accompany her diagram next to an even more horridly drawn rabbit with a bow and arrow. Above the Soul Reaper rabbit, Rukia had written the word _Feel_ and above the rabbit with the bow and arrow (what they could only guess was supposed to be a Quincy) she wrote _Touch_, "His arrows are made of spirit particles too, aren't they?"

"Exactly." Rukia flipped a page and started to draw again, "Then there are the Hollow, who 'taste' reishi and feed off of it." This time a blob a rabbit with a skull mask eating what appeared to be a "ghost" rabbit was drawn beneath_ Taste_, "This is the one of the weakest in sensing, but the most dangerous. The devouring of another's reishi increases your own, and eventually Hollows gain the ability to Touch the reishi they have devoured. That's when we get Menos leveled or higher Hollows."

"And finally...there's the Oniyomi (鬼黄泉-demon of Hades), who 'see' or 'scent' reishi. It's the lowest of the senses, but the most efficient because it allows them to know pretty much everything about the reishi's host. Species, reishi level, how powerful the host is, even memories. Everything." Torusei's face lit up as Rukia concluded her lesson with a drawing of a little Oniyomi rabbit with goat horns like his own underneath _Scent_ **My, my, little Shinigami. You are very well informed. I'm impressed.**

"Oni...yomi?" Reiko looked at Torusei with wonder in her eyes. He'd never told her much about himself, even when she'd asked, "You're...a Demon?" Torusei waved a hand as if dismissing a trivial detail, **Don't be so shocked. After all, you must have suspected it at least once or twice since we met?**

"This is all very interesting," Urahara said, tapping his closed fan against his chin, "To think that the Oniyomi really _do_ have such an ability. Going back then, Torusei-san, could you explain what you meant when you said Sagara-san's reishi is 'strange'?

**The spiritual energy is there but it looks odd. Before, when you drank the liquid, my lovely, it seeped out in large waves but it at least was seeping out. Now it seems as if it is being contained...suppressed.**

"Contained? You mean repelled?"

**Not at all. If it were repelled, I would be unable to see it at all, or at least not as much. No, it as if the energy were trapped. Think of it as a lightbulb, if you will. You can see the light within the glass; may feel its warmth if you were to press your hand against it, but the light is contained beneath the glass itself. The switch is on and the light is flowing, but there is a glass separating the spiritual energy and the world. Refusing to let it pass completely through save for sight and touch.**

"Then why have I been able to use the powers until now? What changed?" Reiko looked down at her hands in distress, "Although...they were a lot weaker than before."

**Think of a light bulb again. A bulb that is about to burn out might flicker and work, but the light is weaker and it eventually dies. **

"Are you saying...my powers died?" Torusei shrugged **I'm saying I'm not exactly sure what happened, but that foul liquid is to blame. While it is true your reishi was increased...no, rather fully released...it is contained. Like a light bulb. Yours is simply broken for the time being.**

"Can't you fix it?" Orihime asked, eagerly leaning over to stare into Torusei's surprised face, **Me? Fix it? Certainly not.**

"But why not? You gave Rei-chan her powers in the first lace, didn't you? You should be able to give them back, no problem!"

**I can't because they're not gone. You can't bring back what never left.**

"What...what do you mean?" Reiko asked, "Of course they're gone! You said so yourself-"

**No, I said they were broken. When a light bulb breaks, most simply replace the bulb rather than fix the coil within. You could very well ask me to give you new powers, different ones, but even if you were to-which I know you won't **he grinned at Reiko's look of protest at his suggestion, **any I were to give you would not work as long as the containment remains. You are like a bulb that has been cut off from its source of electricity. Your coil is not broken, merely your connection to the electricity. We find a way to reestablish the connection, and the powers should return. If the powers return-**

"I can break the containment suppressing them!" Reiko finished. Torusei nodded.

"So how do we 'reestablish the connection'?" Ichigo was trying hard to keep up with the confusing conversation, "Is it like a light bulb...? We just have to flick the switch on?"

**In a manner of speaking. **

"We need to find whoever it is that swapped my repellent for this...suppressant. That's our 'switch'." Reiko sighed. Torusei drifted over to her and leaned against her in comfort, **You should be glad, my lovely. You had suspected that the power was not truly gone, and you were right. For once.**

"Stop enjoying this. You know this is bad news for you, too. If I don't find a way to break this suppressant, you'll never hear me ask you for a deal again and your payments stop. For good."

**That is rather depressing news. Would make the rest of this lifetime with you awfully boring, indeed. **

"Deals? Payments? Just what are you two talking about?" Renji looked irritated at being ignored and his voice showed it. Rather than snap at him again, Reiko just shook her head, "It's not important," she said, and turned to fully face him, Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime and Sado (who had taken to silently flipping through Rukia's drawing pad during the conversation, and was looking at each drawing with an ever growing look of horror on his face), "What is important is...will you help me?"

"Us? Why? You were shooting fireballs at me just a moment ago!" Ichigo said incredulously, "You seriously think we're gonna help you after that?"

"I only did that because I thought...I thought Soul Society sent you to kill me. If you took me back, they no doubt would execute me. If not for my powers, and yes I know they resemble a Hollows', then for the fact that I'm...working with an Oniyomi. Even if I didn't know it myself, no one would have believed me."

"You don't know that-"

"Would you? If you didn't know me as 'Reiko Sagara', your classmate, and had met me only as 'Starless', would you have believed me when I said I had no idea that my accomplice was a Demon?" Ichigo snapped his mouth shut. That was all the answer Reiko needed. She continued, "Without my powers, I'm not personally a threat to you, the town, or even Soul Society, so there's no longer a reason to have to take me back. Do you agree?" she fired this question at Renji who, after looking surprised that she was talking to him, nodded.

"A sword's no threat if there's just a hilt."

"Right. However, as long as my reishi continues to flow, regardless of the suppressant keeping me from accessing any of it, Hollows will continue to be drawn to me. You agree that that _is_ a threat, right?" They all nodded, "So help me. Help me find the bastard that screwed with my reishi. Help me get rid of the suppressant and re-obtain my powers."

"Why bother? If you do that, Soul Society will just be after you again." Ichigo pointed out. Reiko fell quiet for a moment and then forcibly shook her head, "No, I have to. It's the only way I can find the key to getting rid of them once and for all: no reishi, no spirit awareness, no anything. Just a normal life...but I can't...I can't do it alone...I...I'm not...strong enough, anymore." Her voice trembled as she admitted this and Torusei draped an arm around her shoulders. For once, she accepted the gesture (as empty as it might have been) and didn't push him away. She looked at them each in turn, her eyes pleading, "...Please."

"I'll do it!" Orihime jumped up, her hands balled into determined fists, "Of course I'll help you, Rei-chan! We're friends, after all! That's what friends do! We help! Right, Kurosaki-kun?"

"What?" Ichigo blinked, looking from Orihime to Reiko, back to Orihime, "Uh...y-yeah." He cleared his throat, "Yeah, we'll help. I mean...you have been helping out with the Hollows and all...and if Inoue thinks you're alright then, I guess I can't really say no. Otherwise I'd look like a real jerk."

"I will help, as well," Rukia said with a tight smile, "We could always use another hand taking care of the Hollows, and I'm sure we can prove to Soul Society that you mean no harm as we search for whoever switched the potions." _And I want to know more about this Torusei and what his goals are, _she thought, but didn't voice this agenda.

"Chad? You in?" Ichigo looked over at Sado, who gave him a thumbs up.

"And of course, Renji too-"

"Don't just assume things on your own!" Renji snapped at Ichigo, who threw him a wicked grin, "Oh really?" Ichigo said, pointing an accusing finger at him, "So not only do you almost kill this innocent girl, but now you want to leave her to the mercy of Hollows? When she can't even defend herself? What kind of Lieutenant are you?"

"I didn't...! How could I have...?" Renji stuttered, all eyes on him (Torusei snickered and covered it up with a fake cough) "Alright! Fine! I'll help too...but...only 'cus I feel bad about...you know..." he muttered. Reiko looked around at them all and gave a genuine smile of relief, "Thanks...really, I mean it. When this is all over, I swear I'll answer any questions you want. But for now..." she turned to Urahara, who nodded.

"Ururu?" he called. A little girl with big eyes, her dark hair falling in her face, peered around the corner from the shop, "Yes?"

"Set up a second futon in the bedroom, would you? Sagara-san will be staying with us for a little while."

"WHAT?" Renji's face had turned a bright red, "But that's...! That's where I sleep!"

"Correction, that's where _you _sleep." Urahara waved a fan between Reiko and Renji, "Until Sagara-san is able to gain her powers again, it is unsafe for her to go home. A Hollow could attack her there and she'd be unable to protect herself."

"Or Mom," Reiko said quietly, "I don't know what I'd do if a Hollow hurt her, trying to get to me..."

"You can stay with me, Rei-chan!" Orihime suggested, giving her a warm smile, but Urahara shook his head, "Not to discredit you, Inoue-san, but the level of Hollow that are attracted to Sagara-san's reishi range anywhere from low-class to Menos or higher; I don't think we should risk one attacking the two of you alone. Sagara-san would be unable to help you. No, she will have to stay here. Between Tessai, myself, and Abarai-kun, we should be able to deal with anything that comes our way. For the time being, anyway."

Orihime looked a little put out by the comment, but nodded in agreement. Reiko finally shrugged off Torusei's arm, "You can go back, now." she said to him, cooly _We'll talk later _she said to him sternly through their mental connection. Torusei's chuckle filled her mind as he dipped his head in a slight bow. The black smoke engulfed him and slowly swirled around Reiko before being absorbed into the emerald stone once more.

"That'll be my first question," Ichigo said once Torusei had vanished, "How the hell that works."

"I'll be sure to answer it when the time comes, but...Ichigo...Orihime...and you too, Rukia. Could you three...do me a favor?"

-To be continued


	10. 最も大変なもの (The Most Precious Thing)

CHAPTER TEN! I'm so happy this story has gotten this far (in other words, that I've stuck with it this far haha). Since it's getting a little complicated, I wanted to give you all a reading key guide for the story:

Names

I thought some of you might be wondering about some of the name choices so here's a little explanation:

Hitosanai- in case any of you missed this, this was actually a clue as to Starless' true identity. Hitosanai is a name I created with a play on the Japanese words for "Hitoshi" (meaning "person") and " ja nai", the colloquial contraction of "dewa arimasen" (meaning "is not"). While Haruka Hitosanai is first believed to be Starless, her name actually points that she is not. The name "Hitosanai" roughly translates to "wrong person", meaning they had the wrong person when Ichigo and the others suspected Haruka for being Starless.

Torusei- this is another name I made up. It is the combination of the Japanese words "Toru" (meaning "take" or "harvest") and "Jinsei" (meaning "life). In the case of Torusei, his name roughly translated to "Taker of Life". This is a reference to how he takes a bit of Reiko's life force every time she makes a deal with him.

Oniyomi- yet another play on words. "Oni" (meaning "Demon" or "Ogre") and "Yomi" (meaning "Hades" or "underworld"). An Oniyomi is a "Demon from Hell".

Spiritus Patina or "Patina" for short- Latin for "Spirit Charger". This is the tool Reiko uses to channel her reishi into the Patina (allowing her to fly, among other things).

Lettering Types

**BOLD lettering **-this is used for any dialogue where an Oniyomi is speaking (like Torusei). Also used to signify a flashback (in which case you will see the word **FLASHBACK** and **END FLASHBACK**)

_Italic lettering _- this is used for a character's thoughts. Reiko's dialogue appears like this often because she usually speaks to Torusei telepathically.

Got it? GOOD! Now read on!

* * *

"Why are we doing this?" Ichigo mumbled as he, Rukia and Orihime stood on the doorstep leading to Reiko's home. Rukia and Orihime wore their school uniforms but Ichigo was in his Soul Reaper form. Rukia jabbed an elbow into Ichigo's side, "Sagara-san needs some things if she's going to be staying at Urahara's for a while, but she can't risk coming herself."

"And she doesn't want her mother to worry," Orihime added, reaching up to ring the bell, "She'll wonder where Rei-chan is if she suddenly doesn't come home. She might go to the police."

"Yeah, yeah." Ichigo grumbled, straightening up, "So how come I have to be-"

"Why don't you try listening when we plan things, idiot?" Rukia growled, "We went over this back at the shop!"

**-FLASBACK-**

_"Could the three of you stop by my house?" Reiko asked. Ichigo blinked, "Huh? Sure but...why?"_

_"I need a few things, but it'll be hard to explain to my mom. She'll just worry and question me; I don't think I'll be able to lie to her." She shook her head sadly, "Mom knows...about Hollows and Shinigami and Soul Society...but she's has no awareness. Her spiritual energy is completely normal, she's human. She understands that this is all real and that I can see it, she's even met Torusei, but she can't see it for herself. I can't risk going back now, not with my powers gone."_

_She looked up at Orihime, "Mom knows you, Orihime. Not only will she believe what you tell her, but I know she'd be happy to see you again." Orihime nodded and smiled, "I'd really love to see Hito-neesan again, too!"_

_"And you're a pretty trustworthy person, Rukia. Or at least, you look like one. I don't think Mom will be intimidated by you if you come, and it might make her feel more at ease." Rukia nodded and Reiko turned to Ichigo, "that just leaves..you."_

_"Huh? The way you said that kinda irritates me, for some reason."_

_"Like it or not, you look like a thug. If you walk in, the whole cover story will be blown, so I'm leaving it up to you to get the things I need."_

_"Great..." Reiko handed him a piece of paper, "This is what I need. Make sure you get everything on this list. And stay in Shinigami form! Mom won't be able to see you, so you should have no problem getting up to my room. I wrote the directions to my room on the back." He had refrained from telling her he knew exactly how to get to her room (he didn't think she'd appreciate his saying they'd done something similar to this only a few days ago) and slipped the piece of paper into his pocket with a grunt._

_"Remember," Reiko had called as they walked away from the shop, "If I find out you went pervy with my underwear, Ichigo, I'll kill you!"_

**-END FLASHBACK-**

"AS IF!" Ichigo shouted. Rukia elbowed him again, "Who are you talking to?" she hissed as the door opened.

Reiko's mother peered out at Rukia and Orihime, a small smile on her face, "Hello!" she said cheerfully, "My, what pretty girls! What can I do for you, dears?"

"Hito-neesan! It's so nice to see you again!" Orihime bowed deeply and Rukia quickly followed suit. Hitosanai furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "'Hito-neesan...?" Her eyes suddenly widened and she opened the door wide with a bright smile, "Little Hime-chan? Is that you?" She pulled Orihime into a warm hug, "It's wonderful to see you again! Look at you!" she held Orihime out at arm's length and looked her up and down, "You've grown into a beautiful young lady. You look so much like your mother."

"I've missed you, Hito-neesan!" Orihime gave her a cheerful smile and Hitosanai smiled even wider. She turned her smile on Rukia, "Are you a friend of Hime-chan's? Please come in, both of you! I'll make some tea. I want to know everything you've been up to since I last saw you! You were just a little girl then, but I suppose time really does fly by in the blink of an eye." She beckoned them to follow her inside. Rukia threw Ichigo a look as she passed him, silently telling him to make sure he didn't make any noise as he got what Reiko needed from her room. Ichigo slipped inside after them just before the door closed.

* * *

Reiko heaved a heavy sigh as she pulled of her school shirt. The blouse was horribly wrinkled from her fall after Renji's attack; the sleeves splattered with dried blood. She would have to try to wash it out, otherwise throw it away all together. Slowly she unzipped her skirt and slid that off too, kicking it aside. She stood in her underwear and gazed at herself in the full length mirror mounted on the back of the washroom door. **You've lost a lot of weight again. **Torusei whispered in her mind. She ignored him, abruptly turning from her reflection to pick up her discarded clothing. With the skirt and blouse in her arms, she opened the door behind her to see a large bath, the water ready and waiting for her.

Reiko carefully laid her clothes in a corner where they would not get wet and sighed again. She seemed to be doing a lot of that, lately. With the powers suppressed, she expected she had a lot more sighing to do int he near future as well. She reached behind her back to unhook her bra and flung it into the corner with her clothes before pulling down her panties. **I thought you wanted to talk? **Torusei whined, **But now you're ignoring me? Are you angry with me, my lovely?**

_And why wouldn't I be? _Reiko grumbled to him as she plopped down on the stool and began to wash herself _All these years we've been together, and you never thought to mention that you're a Demon? You didn't think that was important at all? _She angrily splashed water over herself to rinse away the soap suds and bent over to start washing her hair _You knew! You knew all this time that I've been trying to avoid Soul Society, and for good reason! You didn't think, just for a moment, that my working with you would attract even more attention? And you still made all those deals with me!_

**You never asked.**

_Don't give me that shit, Torusei! I asked you the day we met, remember? 'What are you?', were those not my exact words? And what did you say-?_

**A friend. That was truthful enough.**

_You know that's not what I meant!_

**And yet the answer satisfied you then, so why does it not, now?**

Reiko paused, her hair dripping with soap. He had a point...she _had _been satisfied with his answer back then, and hadn't asked what he was since. She had been happy to simply have a friend. But now...?

She heard the door to the washroom slide open "Um...Sagara-san?" Ururu's voice called out to her from behind the closed bath door, "Kurosaki-san hasn't returned with your clothes yet so...I'm putting a kimono here for you...I'll just leave it here..."

"Ah...thank you..." Reiko answered. She heard the washroom door slide shut again. She finished washing her hair and stood, turning to the bath at last. She sank into the hot water, dipping her head under for a while before sitting back against the tub's rim to stare up the ceiling. The stone pulsed on its chain against her skin. She reached up to touch it, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

She stood in the grass of the riverbank, a reflection of the one Ryu had died at. There was nothing beyond the riverbank. The water stretched clear past the horizon, as did the grassy field. Looking up at the sky, she tried not to grimace at the blood red color. The sky had once been a beautiful hazel, the same color as Ryu's eyes, but ever since she'd drank the suppressant, the sky had been a tinted red as if it were bleeding. This was the world within her mind. Reiko knew that the Shinigami had worlds similar to this within their own minds, where they spoke to their Zanpakutō. She doubted, though, that their worlds looked anything like this, or if they had any power over what their worlds looked like at all. Reiko on the other hand, did have that power.

**I've yet to understand why you create the world to look like this. **Torusei sat cross-legged in the grass before her, **Does it not depress you to return here each time? I would think you would want to forget this place.**

"I'll never forget it," Reiko said, still looking at the sky, "I can't. That's the whole reason why I made it look like this. It's a reminder of what I have to do." She gave Torusei a weary smile, "I hope that there will be a day when I'll never see this place again...but you're looking like that doesn't help matters." She narrowed her eyes

**Looking like what? **Torusei asked innocently, "Don't play dumb. You can make yourself look anyway you want, so why torment me? Or did you just forget that you've borrowed Ryu's looks?"

**Not at all. My chosen look is very different.**

"In what way?"

**Isn't it obvious? My eyes.**

Reiko shook her head dismissively, "Whatever...even if I complain, you're just gonna insist on looking that way anyway."

**Well, your dear boy was quite handsome-**

"You're going to answer every question I have." Reiko interrupted him. She hated it when Torusei talked about Ryu in the past tense like that, "No half-answers. No lies."

**You wound me. You know very well that I cannot lie to my host. Even if I wanted to. **He added with a bitter grumble.

"Good. Then first things first...What...Who are you, really?" She reached up to touch the stone around her neck, "Why was I given this? Why did you choose me? And who did you serve before me?"

**Those are an awful lot of questions. I believe I answered them all at one point or other-**

"No you didn't. When first I asked, you said you were a friend. You gave me your name, but nothing else. And as for 'why' it this was given to me, and who had it before me, you never gave me a clear answer."

**It was yours to give.**

"That's not an answer! Why? Why is it mine? Who told you to-"

**I was not told by anyone. The stone is my vinculum, my chain. I am bound to it without fail. Through it I see the world, but only if it is worn by a proper host.**

"Meaning me."

**And others before you. It is part of the curse your lovely ancestor set upon me. I am forever bound to the most powerful spirit in your bloodline; meant to serve them until their death...or until the curse is finally broken.**

Reiko looked confused, "'Strongest spirit'...? What do you mean? My reishi?"

**Yes...and no. There is more than spiritual energy that makes a spirit powerful. That's all I can say.**

"So...if you serve them until they die...then who will you go to after...after I...? she couldn't finish the sentence, but he knew what she meant.

**I...do not know.**

"You said you couldn't lie-"

**It is not a lie. I really do not know. You are young and have not started a family of your own, someone to pass on your spiritual heritage to. As of now, you are the most powerful in the bloodline. When you die, I do not know what will happen to the vinculum. Perhaps the curse will be broken, or perhaps it will simply exist with no host. I do not hope for the later. I do not look forward to an eternity trapped within a stone.**

"You wouldn't...you wouldn't take Mom as a host, would you?"

Torusei laughed, **How could I? One cannot serve the dead. Unless you mean Haruka? No. I do not serve mortals.**

* * *

"So Sora has passed away..." Hitosanai set her tea-cup down on the table, a look of sadness on her face, "I'm so sorry to hear that, Hime-chan. Your brother was a good man. I always respected how he took you away from your wretched parents and even continued to raise you so diligently after they died." she gave Orihime a sad smile, "He loved you very much. He was always worried that he was making the wrong choices while raising you. The way he talked about you, anyone would think he spoke of his daughter and not his little sister. I will miss him...would you let me to visit his grave to pay my respects?"

"I think Ni-san would like that," Orihime nodded, brushing away a tear from her eyes, "He loved you...he never told me, but I could tell when he talked about you." Hitosanai giggled, "I never said it myself, but I loved him to. He was a fine man, determined and kind. Perhaps...if things had been different..." she trailed off and they sat in silence for a while before Hitosanai offered another sad smile, "I wish I had been there to comfort you. I know all too well the pain of loosing a sibling..."

"I didn't know..."

"It was some time ago...I loved my sister very much, but things do happen. However, I don't think of it as something bad, at least not anymore. Yuriko's death...as tragic as it was, I think of it as a blessing."

"You do?" Rukia asked in surprise. She couldn't imagine ever feeling that way if her dear elder brother died. Hitosanai nodded, "That must seem strange, I know, but without her death I would never have become a mother. You see...Reiko was my sister's child."

Both Rukia and Orihime gaped at Hitosanai in shock as she went on, "I didn't even know she existed. My sister and I...we were very close when we were young. The best of friends, in fact. But...people grow apart, and that's all too true for siblings as well. Yuriko became distant as we grew up. Withdrawn. And one day...she vanished all together. Just left home without a word; no letter or warning at all. I never heard from her and try as I might, no one knew where she'd gone."

She sighed heavily, "I always thought that she'd left the country to pursue a dream. She was always good at painting, so I thought that perhaps she had gone to Paris or America to become a famous painter, that one day I might stumble across her work and be reunited with her. It was all wishful thinking, of course. I didn't want to think that my dear elder sister had simply abandoned me. After some time, though, that's exactly what I thought. I hated Yuriko for leaving without me...but I don't anymore."

"Because of Reiko?" Orihime asked gently and at that moment Ichigo walked into the room, the front of his kimono bulging suspiciously with Reiko's needed items.

"Yes...and because of Dr. Kurosaki." Ichigo's eyes widened "It was him who found my sister's body, with little Reiko, barely seven yeas old, beside her. The poor girl didn't even cry, Kurosaki-sensei said it was from shock. It was him who urged me to forgive my sister and to take Reiko home as my own. I believe he said 'nothing is more precious than family and this little girl needs something precious, now more than ever'. If it weren't for Kurosaki-sensei...I might have let my hatred for Yuriko turn my back on my niece...my daughter."

_I can't believe that old man said something so cool, _Ichigo thought in awe, and made a mental note to ask him about it the first chance he got. "Does...does Rei-chan know?" Orihime asked tentatively. Hitosanai smiled brightly, "Yes. She was old enough that I believe she remembers her mother well...and perhaps her father too, although I've no idea who he is. But she still calls me 'Mom', and for that I am thankful. I miss my sister...but I am ever thankful for the gift she has given me. I made a vow that I would raise Reiko with nothing but love and care, in Yuriko's memory." She took a deep breath.

"Oh but enough about me! To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Hime-chan?"

"Our class is working on a big project that will take some time to finish," Orihime said nervously, "But Rei-chan felt really sick at school today. She's resting at my house now. I don't think it's anything serious," she added hastily at Hitosanai's worried expression, "She just has a fever and I thought it would be good for her to rest. Is it alright if she stays with me for a few days?" They all held their breath, waiting for her answer. Hitosanai thought for a while and then nodded slowly, "Yes...that might be for the best. Reiko has been pushing herself far too hard, lately. Some rest and some friendly company is just what she needs. Is there anything I could get from her room that she might-"

"Oh no, ma'am!" Rukia said hurridly, "Saga...Hitosanai-san and I are about the same size, clothing wise, you see. I'll be staying with Inoue-san as well, so at least for a few days we should be OK."

Hitosanai looked doubtful but, as Reiko had said she would, she didn't question them any further. Instead she smiled, "I'm very glad that Reiko has made such good friends."

Rukia, Orihime and Ichigo all breathed silent sighs of relief.

* * *

"I can't believe my old man did something like that..." Ichigo muttered as they walked back to Urahara's shop, "He likes to brag a lot, so it's weird that he never mentioned Hitosanai and his help with her adopting Reiko."

"We were all young then," Orihime said beside him, "Maybe he was saving the story for when you got older?" Ichigo shrugged and held up the bag of items he had collected from Reiko's room, "I'm pretty sure I got everything. She better be damn grateful that I-" they all stopped when they heard a loud scream coming from the shop. Ichigo, Rukia and Orihime exchanged glances before they ran the full length of the street; the rest of the way to the shop.

"Is it a Hollow?" Orihime asked as they ran. Ichigo shook his head, "My badge didn't go off at all. Rukia, how about your cell?"

"I've turned it off for the time being, since it hasn't been working anyway." Rukia huffed. They finally made it back to the shop. It seemed quiet and undisturbed until they heard another loud scream, "YOU DAMN SHINIGAMI PERVERT!" followed by a loud crash and a yell. Ichigo exchanged another bewildered glance with the girls before he opened the shop door and they all went inside. When they reached the backroom, the three paused to take in the sight.

Reiko, her hair dripping wet and dressed in a simple black kimono, stood over Renji with the Patina in her hands. He was facedown with his head stuck in a large hole in the floor. He yanked his head out, his nose bleeding, and clutched at his head where Reiko had hit him with the rod, "OW! Damnit! It's not like I meant to!" He shouted. Reiko's eyes were furious as she raised the rod again, threatening to hit him once more. Ichigo rushed forward and grabbed the rod out of her hands, "What the hell is going on?"

"Why don't you ask _him?" _Reiko pointed an accusing finger at Renji, who hastily tried to wipe the blood away from his nose, "That bastard snuck into the bath to peak at me!"

"I DID NOT!" Renji said defensively, "I didn't know you were in there! I was just going to-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR WHAT NASTY THINGS YOU WERE GOING TO DO, YOU PERVERT!"

"Didn't you hear Urururu tell Reiko the bath was ready?" Ginta asked, leaning against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, grinning beneath his wickedly red hair, "Or did you just tune that out?"

"I...I didn't!" Renji protested, but Rukia and Orihime both looked at him with disdain, "DAMNIT, I'M NOT A PERVERT!"

"Alright, ALRIGHT!" Ichigo said, getting annoyed. He thrust the bag into Reiko's hands, "Here. I got what you wanted. Just forgive Renji, alright? I don't think he really meant it. He's stupid, but not _that_ stupid."

"WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?" Renji growled but fell silent when Reiko looked at him again, reaching for the Patina that Ichigo held out of her reach, "I mean...he's right. I'm really sorry! I seriously didn't know you were in there, otherwise I wouldn't have...sorry." he bowed his head low to the ground from his crouched position. Reiko glowered for a few moments more and then snatched the bag from Ichigo. She held out a hand for the Patina and, after Ichigo hesitatingly gave it to her, turned on her heel. She stomped to the guest room without another word and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Geez, Renji. Can't you even _try _to get on her good side?" Ichigo looked down at Renji with amusement, "First you almost kill her then you walk in on her naked...are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"I can't believe you're such a pervert, Renji," Rukia said grudgingly, "I thought I knew you better..."

"I've lost so much respect for you, Abarai-kun." Orihime agreed.

"Stop it! Shut up! I'M NOT A PERVERT!" Renji wailed, but his nose began to bleed again at that precise moment; seemingly proving him wrong.

-To be continued...


End file.
